In fringeprojection profilometry, a simplified method is proposed to recover absolute phase maps of two-frequency fringepatterns by using a unique mapping rule. The mapping rule is designed from the rounded phase values to the fringe order of each pixel. Absolute phase can be recovered by the fringe order maps. Unlike the existing techniques, where the lowest frequency of dual- or multiple-frequency fringepatterns must be single, the presented method breaks the limitation and simplifies the procedure of phase unwrapping. Additionally, due to many issues including ambient light, shadow, sharp edges, step height boundaries and surface reflectivity variations, a novel framework of automatically identifying and removing invalid phase values is also proposed. Simulations and experiments have been carried out to validate the performances of the proposed method.

We report on a fringe projector for three-dimensional shape measurement. The developed instrument is able to project a two-frequency fringepattern, each frequency is independently controlled by electronics. Moreover, each phase of the two fringepatterns is also independently adjusted. The projection system is based on the use of a pair of custom large bandwidth (40 MHz) and high efficiency (60%) TeO 2 deflectors. The developed instrument offers the combined advantages of a static two-frequency fringe projector and of a tunable single frequency fringe projector

In fringe-projection 3D surface-shape measurement, image saturation results in incorrect intensities in captured images of fringepatterns, leading to phase and measurement errors. An adaptive fringe-patternprojection (AFPP) method was developed to adapt the maximum input gray level in projectedfringepatterns to the local reflectivity of an object surface being measured. The AFPP method demonstrated improved 3D measurement accuracy by avoiding image saturation in highly-reflective surface regions while maintaining high intensity modulation across the entire surface. The AFPP method can avoid image saturation and handle varying surface reflectivity, using only two prior rounds of fringe-patternprojection and image capture to generate the adapted fringepatterns.

In this Letter, a novel three-dimensional (3D) measurement method, called the circular fringeprojection profilometry (CFPP), is proposed. Similar to the conventional fringeprojection profilometry, CFPP also requires fringepatternprojection and capture, phase demodulation, and phase unwrapping. However, it works with a totally different mechanism. CFPP recovers the height of a point by calculating its distance to the optical center of a projector along the optical axis. This distance is calculated with the aid of the divergence angle of a projected light ray and the distance between the measured point and the optical axis. The distance between the measured point and the optical axis is detected by a camera with telecentric lenses, while the divergence angle can be calculated from the phase of a captured circular fringepattern. The validity of CFPP is confirmed by a set of experiments.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement based on fringepatternprojection techniques has been commonly used in various fields. One of the remaining challenges in fringepatternprojection is that camera sensor saturation may occur if there is a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface that causes measurement errors. To overcome this problem, a novel fringepatternprojection method is proposed to avoid image saturation and maintain high-intensity modulation for measuring shiny surfaces by adaptively adjusting the pixel-to-pixel projection intensity according to the surface reflectivity. First, three sets of orthogonal color fringepatterns and a sequence of uniform gray-level patterns with different gray levels are projected onto a measured surface by a projector. The patterns are deformed with respect to the object surface and captured by a camera from a different viewpoint. Subsequently, the optimal projection intensity at each pixel is determined by fusing different gray levels and transforming the camera pixel coordinate system into the projector pixel coordinate system. Finally, the adapted fringepatterns are created and used for 3D shape measurement. Experimental results on a flat checkerboard and shiny objects demonstrate that the proposed method can measure shiny surfaces with high accuracy.

Existing digital fringeprojection (DFP) systems mainly use either horizontal or vertical fringepatterns for three-dimensional shape measurement. This paper reveals that these two fringe directions are usually not optimal where the phase change is the largest to a given depth variation. We propose a novel and efficient method to determine the optimal fringe angle by projecting a set of horizontal and vertical fringepatterns onto a step-height object and by further analyzing two resultant phase maps. Experiments demonstrate the existence of the optimal angle and the success of the proposed optimal angle determination method.

This book provides solutions to the challenges involved in fringepattern analysis, covering techniques for full-field, noncontact, and high-sensitivity measurement. The primary goal of fringepattern analysis is to extract the hidden phase distributions that generally relate to the physical quantities being measured. Both theoretical analysis and algorithm development are covered to facilitate the work of researchers and engineers. The information presented is also appropriate as a specialized subject for students of optical and computer engineering.

A high-speed scanning stroboscopic fringe-patternprojection system is designed. A high-speed rotating polygon mirror and a line-structured laser cooperate to produce stable and unambiguous stroboscopic fringepatterns. The system combines the rapidity of the grating projection with the high accuracy of the line-structured laser light source. The fringepatterns have fast frame rate, great density, high precision, and high brightness, with convenience and accuracy in adjusting brightness, frequency, linewidth, and the amount of phase shift. The characteristics and the stability of this system are verified by experiments. Experimental results show that the finest linewidth can reach 40 μm and that the minimum fringe cycle is 80 μm. Circuit modulation makes the light source system flexibly adjustable, easy to control in real time, and convenient to project various fringepatterns. Combined with different light intensity adjustment algorithms and 3D computation models, the 3D topography with high accuracy can be obtained for objects measured under different environments or objects with different sizes, morphologies, and optical properties. The proposed system shows a broad application prospect for fast 3D shape precision measurements, particularly in the industrial field of 3D online detection for precision devices.

A phase unwrapping algorithm specially designed for the phase-shifting fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) is proposed. It combines a revised dual-frequency fringe projectionalgorithm and a proposed fringe background based quality guided phase unwrapping algorithm (FB-QGPUA). Phase demodulated from the high-frequency fringepatterns is partially unwrapped by that demodulated from the low-frequency ones. Then FB-QGPUA is adopted to further unwrap the partially unwrapped phase. Influences of the phase error on the measurement are researched. Strategy to select the fringe pitch is given. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is very robust and efficient. (paper)

A novel approach is proposed to unwrap the phase maps of two fringepatterns in fringepatternprojection-based profilometry. In contrast to existing techniques, where spatial frequencies (i.e., the number of fringes on a pattern) of the two fringepatterns must be integers and coprime, the proposed method is applicable for any two fringepatterns with different fringe wavelengths (i.e., the number of pixels in a fringe) and thus provides more flexibility in the use of fringepatterns. Moreover, compared to the existing techniques, the proposed method is simpler in its implementation and has better antierror capability. Theoretical analysis and experiment results are presented to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.

The paper reviews the basic laws of fringepattern interpretation. The different techniques that are currently utilized are presented using a common frame of reference stressing the fact that these techniques are different variations of the same basic principle. Digital and analog techniques are discussed. Currently available hardware is presented and the relationships between hardware and the operations of patternfringe processing are pointed out. Examples are given to illustrate the ideas discussed in the paper.

Filtering off noise from a fringepattern is one of the key tasks in optical interferometry. In this Letter, using some suitable function spaces to model different components of a fringepattern, we propose a new fringepattern denoising method based on image decomposition. In our method, a fringe image is divided into three parts: low-frequency fringe, high-frequency fringe, and noise, which are processed in different spaces. An adaptive threshold in wavelet shrinkage involved in this algorithm improves its denoising performance. Simulation and experimental results show that our algorithm obtains smooth and clean fringes with different frequencies while preserving fringe features effectively.

Three-dimensional (3D) shape profiling by sinusoidal phase-shifting methods is affected by the non-linearity of the projector. To overcome this problem, the defocusing technique has become an important alternative to generate sinusoidal fringepatterns. The precision of this method depends on the binary pattern used and on the defocusing applied. To improve the defocusing technique, we propose the implementation of a color-based binary fringepatterns. The proposed technique involves the generation of colored pulse width modulation (PWM) fringepatterns, which are generated with different frequencies at the carrier signal. From an adequate selection of these frequencies, the colored PWM fringepatterns will lead to amplitude harmonics lower than the conventional PWM fringepatterns. Hence, the defocusing can decrease, and the 3D shape profiling can be more accurate. Numerical simulations and experimental results are presented as validation.

In this paper, a robust fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) algorithm using the sparse dictionary learning and sparse coding techniques is proposed. When reconstructing the 3D model of objects, traditional FPP systems often fail to perform if the captured fringe images have a complex scene, such as having multiple and occluded objects. It introduces great difficulty to the phase unwrapping process of an FPP system that can result in serious distortion in the final reconstructed 3D model. For the proposed algorithm, it encodes the period order information, which is essential to phase unwrapping, into some texture patterns and embeds them to the projectedfringepatterns. When the encoded fringe image is captured, a modified morphological component analysis and a sparse classification procedure are performed to decode and identify the embedded period order information. It is then used to assist the phase unwrapping process to deal with the different artifacts in the fringe images. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can significantly improve the robustness of an FPP system. It performs equally well no matter the fringe images have a simple or complex scene, or are affected due to the ambient lighting of the working environment.

Fringeprojection profilometry has been widely applied in many fields. To set up an ideal measuring system, a virtual fringeprojection technique has been studied to assist in the design of hardware configurations. However, existing virtual fringeprojection systems use parallel illumination and have a fixed optical framework. This paper presents a virtual fringeprojection system with nonparallel illumination. Using an iterative method to calculate intersection points between rays and reference planes or object surfaces, the proposed system can simulate projectedfringepatterns and captured images. A new explicit calibration method has been presented to validate the precision of the system. Simulated results indicate that the proposed iterative method outperforms previous systems. Our virtual system can be applied to error analysis, algorithm optimization, and help operators to find ideal system parameter settings for actual measurements. (paper)

The fringepatterns seen when using moire instruments are similar to the patterns seen in traditional interferometry but differ in the spacing between consecutive fringes. In traditional interferometry, the spacing is constant and related to the wavelength of the source. In moire fringeprojection, the spacing (the effective wavelength) may not be constant over the field of view and the spacing depends on the system geometry. In these cases, using a constant effective wavelength over the field of view causes inaccurate surface height measurements. We examine the calibration process of the moirefringe projection measurement, which takes this varying wavelength into account to produce a pixel-by-pixel wavelength map. The wavelength calibration procedure is to move the object in the out-of-plane direction a known distance until every pixel intensity value goes through at least one cycle. A sinusoidal function is then fit to the data to extract the effective wavelength pixel by pixel, yielding an effective wavelength map. A calibrated step height was used to validate the effective wavelength map with results within 1% of the nominal value of the step height. The error sources that contributed to the uncertainty in determining the height of the artifact are also investigated

The multi-frequency fringe-projection phase unwrapping method (MFPPUM) is a typical phase unwrapping algorithm for fringeprojection profilometry. It has the advantage of being capable of correctly accomplishing phase unwrapping even in the presence of surface discontinuities. If the fringe frequency ratio of the MFPPUM is too large, fringe order error (FOE) may be triggered. FOE will result in phase unwrapping error. It is preferable for the phase unwrapping to be kept correct while the fewest sets of lower frequency fringepatterns are used. To achieve this goal, in this paper a parameter called fringe order inaccuracy (FOI) is defined, dominant factors which may induce FOE are theoretically analyzed, a method to optimally select the fringe periods for the MFPPUM is proposed with the aid of FOI, and experiments are conducted to research the impact of the dominant factors in phase unwrapping and demonstrate the validity of the proposed method. Some novel phenomena are revealed by these experiments. The proposed method helps to optimally select the fringe periods and detect the phase unwrapping error for the MFPPUM. (paper)

A system capable of retrieving and processing information recorded in fringepatterns is reported. The principal components are described as well as the architecture in which they are assembled. An example of application is given.

Electronic speckle pattern interferometry is one of the methods measuring the displacement on object surfaces in which fringepatterns need to be evaluated. Noise is one of the key problems affecting further processing and reducing measurement quality. We propose an application of coherence-enhancing diffusion to fringe-pattern denoising. It smoothes a fringepattern along directions both parallel and perpendicular to fringe orientation with suitable diffusion speeds to more effectively reduce noise and improve fringe-pattern quality. It is a generalized work of Tang's et al.'s [Opt. Lett.33, 2179 (2008)] model that only smoothes a fringepattern along fringe orientation. Since our model diffuses a fringepattern with an additional direction, it is able to denoise low-density fringes as well as improve denoising effectiveness for high-density fringes. Theoretical analysis as well as simulation and experimental verifications are addressed.

Temporal fringepattern analysis is invaluable in transient phenomena studies but necessitates long processing times. Here we describe a parallel computing strategy based on the single-program multiple-data model and hyperthreading processor technology to reduce the execution time. In a two-node cluster workstation configuration we found that execution periods were reduced by 1.6 times when four virtual processors were used. To allow even lower execution times with an increasing number of processors, the time allocated for data transfer, data read, and waiting should be minimized. Parallel computing is found here to present a feasible approach to reduce execution times in temporal fringepattern analysis

Phase retrieval from a single fringepattern is one of the key tasks in optical metrology. In this paper, we present a new method for phase retrieval from a single fringepattern based on empirical wavelet transform. In the proposed method, a fringepattern can be effectively divided into three components: nonuniform background, fringes and random noise, which are described in different sub-pass. So the phase distribution information can be robustly extracted from fringes representing a fundamental frequency component. In simulation and a practical projectionfringes test, the performance of the present method is successfully verified by comparing with the conventional wavelet transform method in terms of both image quality and phase estimation errors. (paper)

Owing to gamma-effect robustness and high-speed imaging capabilities, projector defocusing of binary-coded fringepatterns is by far the most widely used and effective technique in generating sinusoidal fringepatterns for three-dimensional optical topography measurement with digital fringeprojection techniques. However, this technique is not trouble-free. It is borne with uncertainty and challenges mainly because it remains somewhat difficult to quantify and ascertain the level of defocus required for desired fidelity in sinuousness of the projectedfringepattern. Too much or too little defocusing will affect the sinuosity accuracy of fringepatterns and consequently jeopardize the quality of the measurement results. In this paper, by combining intrinsic phase spectral sensitivities and normed Fourier transform, a method to quantify the amount of defocus and subsequently select the optimal degree of sinuosity for generating digital sinusoidal fringepatterns with projector defocusing for fringepattern optical three-dimensional profilometry is proposed. Numerical simulations plus experiments give evidence of the feasibility and validity of the proposed method in enabling an improved digital binary defocusing technique for optical phase-shift profilometry using the digital fringeprojection technique.

A profilometer which takes advantage of polarization states splitting technique and monochromatic light projection method as a way to overcome ambient lighting for in-situ measurement is under development [1, 2]. Because of the Savart plate which refracts two out of axis beams, the device suffers from aberrations (mostly coma and astigmatism). These aberrations affect the quality of the sinusoidal fringepattern. In fringeprojection profilometry, the unwrapped phase distribution map contains the sum of the object's shape-related phase and carrier-fringe-related phase. In order to extract the 3D shape of the object, the carrier phase has to be removed [3, 4]. An easy way to remove both the fringe carrier and the aberrations of the optical system is to measure the phases of the test object and to measure the phase of a reference plane with the same set up and to subtract both phase maps. This time consuming technique is suitable for laboratory but not for industry. We propose a method to numerically remove both the fringe carrier and the aberrations. A first reference phase of a calibration plane is evaluated knowing the position of the different elements in the set up and the orientation of the fringes. Then a fitting of the phase map by Zernike polynomials is computed [5]. As the triangulation parameters are known during the calibration, the computation of Zernike coefficients has only to be made once. The wavefront error can be adjusted by a scale factor which depends on the position of the test object.

In 3D shape measurement, because deformed fringes often contain low-frequency information degraded with random noise and background intensity information, a new fringe-projection profilometry is proposed based on 2D empirical mode decomposition (2D-EMD). The fringepattern is first decomposed into numbers of intrinsic mode functions by 2D-EMD. Because the method has partial noise reduction, the background components can be removed to obtain the fundamental components needed to perform Hilbert transformation to retrieve the phase information. The 2D-EMD can effectively extract the modulation phase of a single direction fringe and an inclined fringepattern because it is a full 2D analysis method and considers the relationship between adjacent lines of a fringepatterns. In addition, as the method does not add noise repeatedly, as does ensemble EMD, the data processing time is shortened. Computer simulations and experiments prove the feasibility of this method.

Various kinds of fringe order errors may occur in the absolute phase maps recovered with multi-spatial-frequency fringeprojections. In existing methods, multiple successive pixels corrupted by fringe order errors are detected and corrected pixel-by-pixel with repeating searches, which is inefficient for applications. To improve the efficiency of multiple successive fringe order corrections, in this paper we propose a method to simplify the error detection and correction by the stepwise increasing property of fringe order. In the proposed method, the numbers of pixels in each step are estimated to find the possible true fringe order values, repeating the search in detecting multiple successive errors can be avoided for efficient error correction. The effectiveness of our proposed method is validated by experimental results. (paper)

In shearography system one of the most important tasks is the automatic, fast, reliable processing of the fringepatterns to allow real time inspection. Development of digital CCD cameras, the PC (fast and small data acquisition), high power lasers have led to dramatic performance improvements in shearography instruments and systems. This paper concentrates on development of fringepattern acquisition using digital CCD camera for portable laser shearography system. A new program for fringepattern processing which incorporates rapid methods for automatic fringepattern acquisition and filtering has been developed. The algorithm is written using MATLAB. A graphical user interface with several functions was developed to ensure an easy adaptation in custom applications and providing a flexible way for additional functions. The preliminary results show that the developed algorithm can be used to generate good contrast and reliable fringepattern. (author)

A simple but effective fringeprojection profilometry is proposed to measure 3D shape by using one snapshot color sinusoidal fringepattern. One color fringepattern encoded with a sinusoidal fringe (as red component) and one uniform intensity pattern (as blue component) is projected by a digital video projector, and the deformed fringepattern is recorded by a color CCD camera. The captured color fringepattern is separated into its RGB components and division operation is applied to red and blue channels to reduce the variable reflection intensity. Shape information of the tested object is decoded by applying an arcsine algorithm on the normalized fringepattern with subpixel resolution. In the case of fringe discontinuities caused by height steps, or spatially isolated surfaces, the separated blue component is binarized and used for correcting the phase demodulation. A simple and robust method is also introduced to compensate for nonlinear intensity response of the digital video projector. The experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

What happens at the urban edge and the SURF aspiration to influence it? Projects in the urban fringe Urban fringe governance Integrated policy guidelines and approaches towards urban fringe planning and management The future management of the urban fringe

A fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) using portable consumer devices is attractive because it can realize optical three dimensional (3D) measurement for ordinary consumers in their daily lives. We demonstrate a FPP using a camera in a smart mobile phone and a digital consumer mini projector. In our experiment of testing the smart phone (iphone7) camera performance, the rare-facing camera in the iphone7 causes the FPP to have a fringe contrast ratio of 0.546, nonlinear carrier phase aberration value of 0.6 rad, and nonlinear phase error of 0.08 rad and RMS random phase error of 0.033 rad. In contrast, the FPP using the industrial camera has a fringe contrast ratio of 0.715, nonlinear carrier phase aberration value of 0.5 rad, nonlinear phase error of 0.05 rad and RMS random phase error of 0.011 rad. Good performance is achieved by using the FPP composed of an iphone7 and a mini projector. 3D information of a facemask with a size for an adult is also measured by using the FPP that uses portable consumer devices. After the system calibration, the 3D absolute information of the facemask is obtained. The measured results are in good agreement with the ones that are carried out in a traditional way. Our results show that it is possible to use portable consumer devices to construct a good FPP, which is useful for ordinary people to get 3D information in their daily lives.

Two-dimensional phase modulation is currently the basic model used in the interpretation of fringepatterns that contain displacement information, moire, holographic interferometry, speckle techniques. Another way to look to these two-dimensional signals is to consider them as frequency modulated signals. This alternative interpretation has practical implications similar to those that exist in radio engineering for handling frequency modulated signals. Utilizing this model it is possible to obtain frequency information by using the energy approach introduced by Ville in 1944. A natural complementary tool of this process is the wavelet methodology. The use of wavelet makes it possible to obtain the local values of the frequency in a one or two dimensional domain without the need of previous phase retrieval and differentiation. Furthermore from the properties of wavelets it is also possible to obtain at the same time the phase of the signal with the advantage of a better noise removal capabilities and the possibility of developing simpler algorithms for phase unwrapping due to the availability of the derivative of the phase.

Since the mid-eighties, a fundamental idea for achieving measuring accuracy in projectedfringe technology was to consider the projectedfringepattern as an interferogram and evaluate it on the basis of advanced algorithms widely used for phase measuring in real-time interferometry. A fundamental requirement for obtaining a sufficiently high degree of measuring accuracy with this so-called "phase measuring projectedfringe technology" is that the projectedfringes, analogous to interference fringes, must have a cos2-shaped intensity distribution. Until the mid-nineties, this requirement for the projectedfringepattern measurement technology presented a basic handicap for its wide application in 3D metrology. This situation changed abruptly, when in the nineties Texas Instruments introduced to the market advanced digital light projection on the basis of micro mirror based projection systems, socalled DLP technology, which also facilitated the generation and projection of cos2-shaped intensity and/or fringepatterns. With this DLP technology, which from its original approach was actually oriented towards completely different applications such as multimedia projection, Texas Instruments boosted phase-measuring fringeprojection in optical 3D metrology to a worldwide breakthrough both for medical as well as industrial applications. A subject matter of the lecture will be to present the fundamental principles and the resulting advantages of optical 3D metrology based on phase-measuring fringeprojection using DLP technology. Further will be presented and discussed applications of the measurement technology in medical engineering and industrial metrology.

It is a challenge for any optical method to measure objects with a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface. Image saturation results in incorrect intensities in captured fringepattern images, leading to phase and measurement errors. This paper presents a new adaptive digital fringeprojection technique which avoids image saturation and has a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the three-dimensional (3-D) shape measurement of objects that has a large range of reflectivity variation across the surface. Compared to previous high dynamic range 3-D scan methods using many exposures and fringepatternprojections, which consumes a lot of time, the proposed technique uses only two preliminary steps of fringepatternprojection and image capture to generate the adapted fringepatterns, by adaptively adjusting the pixel-wise intensity of the projectedfringepatterns based on the saturated pixels in the captured images of the surface being measured. For the bright regions due to high surface reflectivity and high illumination by the ambient light and surfaces interreflections, the projected intensity is reduced just to be low enough to avoid image saturation. Simultaneously, the maximum intensity of 255 is used for those dark regions with low surface reflectivity to maintain high SNR. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed technique can achieve higher 3-D measurement accuracy across a surface with a large range of reflectivity variation.

An overview of the use of FFTs for fringepattern analysis is presented, with emphasis on fringepatterns containing displacement information. The techniques are illustrated via analysis of the displacement and strain distributions in the direction perpendicular to the loading, in a disk under diametral compression. The experimental strain distribution is compared to the theoretical, and the agreement is found to be excellent in regions where the elasticity solution models well the actual problem.

Phase demodulation from a single fringepattern is a challenging task but of interest. A frequency-guided regularized phase tracker and a frequency-guided sequential demodulation method with Levenberg-Marquardt optimization are proposed to demodulate a single fringepattern. Demodulation path guided by the local frequency from the highest to the lowest is applied in both methods. Since critical points have low local frequency values, they are processed last so that the spurious sign problem caused by these points is avoided. These two methods can be considered as alternatives to the effective fringe follower regularized phase tracker. Demodulation results from one computer-simulated and two experimental fringepatterns using the proposed methods will be demonstrated. (c) 2009 Optical Society of America

A fringeprojection technique to trace the shape of a fast-moving object is proposed. A binary-encoded fringepattern is illuminated by a strobe lamp and then projected onto the moving object at a sequence of time. Phases of the projectedfringes obtained from the sequent measurements are extracted by the Fourier transform method. Unwrapping is then performed with reference to the binary-encoded fringepattern. Even though the inspected object is colorful, fringe orders can be identified. A stream of profiles is therefore retrieved from the sequent unwrapped phases. This makes it possible to analyze physical properties of the dynamic objects. Advantages of the binary-encoded fringepattern for phase unwrapping also include (1) reliable performance for colorful objects, spatially isolated objects, and surfaces with large depth discontinuities; (2) unwrapped errors only confined in a local area; and (3) low computation cost.

A new fringeprojection method for surface-shape measurement was developed using four high-frequency phase-shifted background modulation fringepatterns. The pattern frequency is determined using a new fringe-wavelength geometry-constraint model that allows only two corresponding-point candidates in the measurement volume. The correct corresponding point is selected with high reliability using a binary pattern computed from intensity background encoded in the fringepatterns. Equations of geometry-constraint parameters permit parameter calculation prior to measurement, thus reducing measurement computational cost. Experiments demonstrated the ability of the method to perform 3D shape measurement for a surface with geometric discontinuity, and for spatially isolated objects.

Conventional fringeprojection profilometry methods often have difficulty in reconstructing the 3D model of objects when the fringe images have the so-called highlight regions due to strong illumination from nearby light sources. Within a highlight region, the fringepattern is often overwhelmed by the strong reflected light. Thus, the 3D information of the object, which is originally embedded in the fringepattern, can no longer be retrieved. In this paper, a novel inpainting algorithm is proposed to restore the fringe images in the presence of highlights. The proposed method first detects the highlight regions based on a Gaussian mixture model. Then, a geometric sketch of the missing fringes is made and used as the initial guess of an iterative regularization procedure for regenerating the missing fringes. The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately reconstruct the 3D model of objects even when their fringe images have large highlight regions. It significantly outperforms the traditional approaches in both quantitative and qualitative evaluations.

A multifrequency fringeprojection phase unwrapping algorithm (MFPPUA) is important to fringeprojection profilometry, especially when a discontinuous object is measured. However, a fringe order error (FOE) may occur when MFPPUA is adopted. An FOE will result in error to the unwrapped phase. Although this kind of phase error does not spread, it brings error to the eventual 3D measurement results. Therefore, an FOE or its adverse influence should be obviated. In this paper, reasons for the occurrence of an FOE are theoretically analyzed and experimentally explored. Methods to correct the phase error caused by an FOE are proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed methods are valid in eliminating the adverse influence of an FOE.

The performance of the two selected spatial frequency phase unwrapping methods is limited by a phase error bound beyond which errors will occur in the fringe order leading to a significant error in the recovered absolute phase map. In this paper, we propose a method to detect and correct the wrong fringe orders. Two constraints are introduced during the fringe order determination of two selected spatial frequency phase unwrapping methods. A strategy to detect and correct the wrong fringe orders is also described. Compared with the existing methods, we do not need to estimate the threshold associated with absolute phase values to determine the fringe order error, thus making it more reliable and avoiding the procedure of search in detecting and correcting successive fringe order errors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by the experimental results.

Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization is a very fast and efficient method for the fringepattern phase demodulation. It requires only two arbitrarily phase-shifted frames. Images are treated as vectors and upon orthogonal projection of one fringe vector onto another the quadrature fringepattern pair is obtained. Orthonormalization process is very susceptible, however, to noise, uneven background and amplitude modulation fluctuations. The Hilbert-Huang transform based preprocessing is proposed to enhance fringepattern phase demodulation by filtering out the spurious noise and background illumination and performing fringe normalization. The Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization process error analysis is provided and its filtering-expanded capabilities are corroborated analyzing DSPI fringes and performing amplitude demodulation of Bessel fringes. Synthetic and experimental fringepattern analyses presented to validate the proposed technique show that it compares favorably with other pre-filtering schemes, i.e., Gaussian filtering and continuous wavelet transform.

We present a new result of pattern recognition generation scheme using a small-scale optical muscle sensing system, which consisted of an optical add-drop filter incorporating two nonlinear optical side ring resonators. When light from laser source enters into the system, the device is stimulated by an external physical parameter that introduces a change in the phase of light propagation within the sensing device, which can be formed by the interference fringepatterns. Results obtained have shown that the fringepatterns can be used to form the relationship between signal patterns and fringepattern recognitions.

As an unique, unchangeable and easily acquired biometrics, fingerprint has been widely studied in academics and applied in many fields over the years. The traditional fingerprint recognition methods are based on the obtained 2D feature of fingerprint. However, fingerprint is a 3D biological characteristic. The mapping from 3D to 2D loses 1D information and causes nonlinear distortion of the captured fingerprint. Therefore, it is becoming more and more important to obtain 3D fingerprint information for recognition. In this paper, a novel 3D fingerprint imaging system is presented based on fringeprojection technique to obtain 3D features and the corresponding color texture information. A series of color sinusoidal fringepatterns with optimum three-fringe numbers are projected onto a finger surface. From another viewpoint, the fringepatterns are deformed by the finger surface and captured by a CCD camera. 3D shape data of the finger can be obtained from the captured fringepattern images. This paper studies the prototype of the 3D fingerprint imaging system, including principle of 3D fingerprint acquisition, hardware design of the 3D imaging system, 3D calibration of the system, and software development. Some experiments are carried out by acquiring several 3D fingerprint data. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed 3D fingerprint imaging system.

‘Ghosted’ fringepatterns simultaneously reflected from both the upper and lower sides of a transparent target in the fringe reflection technique are captured for transparent surface 3D shape measurement, but the phase retrieval from the captured ‘ghosted’ fringepatterns is still not solved. A novel method is proposed to solve this issue by using two sets of phase-shifted fringepatterns with slightly different frequencies. The nonlinear least-squares method is used to estimate the fringe phase and modulation from both front and rear interfaces. Several simulations are done to show the feasibility of the proposed method. The influence of fringe noise on the algorithm is studied as well, which indicates that the proposed method is able to retrieve the phase from double-sided reflective fringepatterns with fringe noise equivalent to that in practical measurements. The merits and limitations of the method are discussed and recommendations for future studies are made. (paper)

Temporal phase unwrapping (TPU) is an essential algorithm in fringeprojection profilometry (FPP), especially when measuring complex objects with discontinuities and isolated surfaces. Among others, the multi-frequency TPU has been proven to be the most reliable algorithm in the presence of noise. For a practical FPP system, in order to achieve an accurate, efficient, and reliable measurement, one needs to make wise choices about three key experimental parameters: the highest fringe frequency, the phase-shifting steps, and the fringepattern sequence. However, there was very little research on how to optimize these parameters quantitatively, especially considering all three aspects from a theoretical and analytical perspective simultaneously. In this work, we propose a new scheme to determine simultaneously the optimal fringe frequency, phase-shifting steps and pattern sequence under multi-frequency TPU, robustly achieving high accuracy measurement by a minimum number of fringe frames. Firstly, noise models regarding phase-shifting algorithms as well as 3-D coordinates are established under a projector defocusing condition, which leads to the optimal highest fringe frequency for a FPP system. Then, a new concept termed frequency-to-frame ratio (FFR) that evaluates the magnitude of the contribution of each frame for TPU is defined, on which an optimal phase-shifting combination scheme is proposed. Finally, a judgment criterion is established, which can be used to judge whether the ratio between adjacent fringe frequencies is conducive to stably and efficiently unwrapping the phase. The proposed method provides a simple and effective theoretical framework to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of a practical FPP system in actual measurement conditions. The correctness of the derived models as well as the validity of the proposed schemes have been verified through extensive simulations and experiments. Based on a normal monocular 3-D FPP hardware system

Palmprint and hand shape, as two kinds of important biometric characteristics, have been widely studied and applied to human identity recognition. The existing research is based mainly on 2D images, which lose the third-dimensional information. The biological features extracted from 2D images are distorted by pressure and rolling, so the subsequent feature matching and recognition are inaccurate. This paper presents a method to acquire accurate 3D shapes of palmprint and hand by projecting full-field composite color sinusoidal fringepatterns and the corresponding color texture information. A 3D imaging system is designed to capture and process the full-field composite color fringepatterns on hand surface. Composite color fringepatterns having the optimum three fringe numbers are generated by software and projected onto the surface of human hand by a digital light processing projector. From another viewpoint, a color CCD camera captures the deformed fringepatterns and saves them for postprocessing. After compensating for the cross talk and chromatic aberration between color channels, three fringepatterns are extracted from three color channels of a captured composite color image. Wrapped phase information can be calculated from the sinusoidal fringepatterns with high precision. At the same time, the absolute phase of each pixel is determined by the optimum three-fringe selection method. After building up the relationship between absolute phase map and 3D shape data, the 3D palmprint and hand are obtained. Color texture information can be directly captured or demodulated from the captured composite fringepattern images. Experimental results show that the proposed method and system can yield accurate 3D shape and color texture information of the palmprint and hand shape.

This paper presents a novel marker encoded fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) scheme for efficient 3-dimensional (3D) model acquisition. Traditional FPP schemes can introduce large errors to the reconstructed 3D model when the target object has an abruptly changing height profile. For the proposed scheme, markers are encoded in the projectedfringepattern to resolve the ambiguities in the fringe images due to that problem. Using the analytic complex wavelet transform, the marker cue information can be extracted from the fringe image, and is used to restore the order of the fringes. A series of simulations and experiments have been carried out to verify the proposed scheme. They show that the proposed method can greatly improve the accuracy over the traditional FPP schemes when reconstructing the 3D model of objects with abruptly changing height profile. Since the scheme works directly in our recently proposed complex wavelet FPP framework, it enjoys the same properties that it can be used in real time applications for color objects.

Fringe orientation represents an important property of fringes. The estimation of orientation from a poor quality fringe image is still a challenging problem faced in this area. This paper introduces a new approach for estimating optical fringe orientation with a poor quality image. This approach is based on the power spectrum analysis of the Fourier transform. We evaluate the performance of this algorithm via application to a variety of test cases and comparison with the widely used gradient-based method and accumulate-differences method. The experimental results show that our method is capable of calculating fringe orientation robustly even when the quality of fringe images is considerably low because of high or low density, high noise, and low contrast. Under the same conditions, our accuracy is even better than that obtained with the gradient-based and accumulate-differences methods, especially for fringe images with poor quality.

I discuss the behavior of fringe formation in image-plane electronic speckle-pattern correlation interferometers as the limit of total decorrelation is approached. The interferometers are supposed to operate in the difference mode. The effect of decorrelation will be a decrease in fringe visibility...... until the limit of total decorrelation, when no fringes will be formed, is reached. A quantitative evaluation of the partially decorrelated fringepattern is presented for the case of decorrelation due to both tilt and in-plane translation of an object surface element. It is shown that the fringe...

The main objective of this book is to present the basic theoretical principles and practical applications for the classical interferometric techniques and the most advanced methods in the field of modern fringepattern analysis applied to optical metrology. A major novelty of this work is the presentation of a unified theoretical framework based on the Fourier description of phase shifting interferometry using the Frequency Transfer Function (FTF) along with the theory of Stochastic Process for the straightforward analysis and synthesis of phase shifting algorithms with desired properties such

Inspection of machine elements is an important task in production processes in order to ensure the quality of produced parts and to gather feedback for the continuous improvement process. A new measuring system is presented, which is capable of performing the inspection of critical tool geometries, such as gearing elements, inside the forming machine. To meet the constraints on sensor head size and inspection time imposed by the limited space inside the machine and the cycle time of the process, the measuring device employs a combination of endoscopy techniques with the fringeprojection principle. Compact gradient index lenses enable a compact design of the sensor head, which is connected to a CMOS camera and a flexible micro-mirror based projector via flexible fiber bundles. Using common fringeprojectionpatterns, the system achieves measuring times of less than five seconds. To further reduce the time required for inspection, the generation of inverse fringeprojectionpatterns has been implemented for the system. Inverse fringeprojection speeds up the inspection process by employing object-adapted patterns, which enable the detection of geometry deviations in a single image. Two different approaches to generate object adapted patterns are presented. The first approach uses a reference measurement of a manufactured tool master to generate the inverse pattern. The second approach is based on a virtual master geometry in the form of a CAD file and a ray-tracing model of the measuring system. Virtual modeling of the measuring device and inspection setup allows for geometric tolerancing for free-form surfaces by the tool designer in the CAD-file. A new approach is presented, which uses virtual tolerance specifications and additional simulation steps to enable fast checking of metric tolerances. Following the description of the pattern generation process, the image processing steps required for inspection are demonstrated on captures of gearing geometries.

Full Text Available We have developed a magneto-optical spatial light modulator (MOSLM using giant magneto-resistance (GMR structures for realizing a holographic three-dimensional (3D display. For practical applications, reconstructed image of hologram consisting of GMR structures should be investigated in order to study the feasibility of the MOSLM. In this study, we fabricated a hologram with GMR based fringe-pattern and demonstrated a reconstructed image. A fringe-pattern convolving a crossshaped image was calculated by a conventional binary computer generated hologram (CGH technique. The CGH-pattern has 2,048 × 2,048 with 5 μm pixel pitch. The GMR stack consists of a Tb-Fe-Co/CoFe pinned layer, a Ag spacer, a Gd-Fe free layer for light modulation, and a Ru capping layer, was deposited by dc-magnetron sputtering. The GMR hologram was formed using photo-lithography and Krion milling processes, followed by the deposition of a Tb-Fe-Co reference layer with large coercivity and the same Kerr-rotation angle compared to the free layer, and a lift-off process. The reconstructed image of the ON-state was clearly observed and successfully distinguished from the OFF-state by switching the magnetization direction of the free-layer with an external magnetic field. These results indicate the possibility of realizing a holographic 3D display by the MOSLM using the GMR structures.

Strain measurement using interferometry requires an efficient way to extract the desired information from interferometric fringes. Availability of digital image processing systems makes it possible to use digital techniques for the analysis of fringes. In the past, there have been several developments in the area of one dimensional and two dimensional fringe analysis techniques, including the carrier fringe method (spatial heterodyning) and the phase stepping (quasi-heterodyning) technique. This paper presents some new developments in the area of two dimensional fringe analysis, including a phase stepping technique supplemented by the carrier fringe method and a two dimensional Fourier transform method to obtain the strain directly from the discontinuous phase contour map.

A method for processing fringepatterns containing additively superimposed multiple fringe sets is presented. It enables to analyze different fringe families present in a single image separately. The proposed method is based on a two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform. A robust ridge extraction algorithm for a single fringe set extraction is presented. The method is fully automatic and requires no user interference. Spectral separation of fringe families is not required. Simulations are presented to verify performance and advantage of the proposed method over the Fourier transform based technique. Method validity has been confirmed using experimental images.

Phase-shifting fringeprojection is an effective method to perform 3D shape measurements. Conventionally, fringeprojection systems utilize a digital projector that images fringes into the measurement plane. The performance of such systems is limited to the visible spectral range, as most projectors experience technical limitations in UV or IR spectral ranges. However, for certain applications these spectral ranges are of special interest. We present a wideband fringe projector that has been developed on the basis of a picture generating beamshaping mirror. This mirror generates a sinusoidal fringepattern in the measurement plane without any additional optical elements. Phase shifting is realized without any mechanical movement by a multichip LED. As the system is based on a single mirror, it is wavelength-independent in a wide spectral range and therefore applicable in UV and IR spectral ranges. We present the design and a realized setup of this fringeprojection system and the characterization of the generated intensity distribution. Experimental results of 3D shape measurements are presented.

Fringe orientation is an important feature of fringepatterns and has a wide range of applications such as guiding fringepattern filtering, phase unwrapping, and abstraction. Estimating fringe orientation is a basic task for subsequent processing of fringepatterns. However, various noise, singular and obscure points, and orientation data degeneration lead to inaccurate calculations of fringe orientation. Thus, to deepen the understanding of orientation estimation and to better guide orientation estimation in fringepattern processing, some advanced gradient-field-based orientation estimation methods are compared and analyzed. At the same time, following the ideas of smoothing regularization and computing of bigger gradient fields, a regularized singular-value decomposition (RSVD) technique is proposed for fringe orientation estimation. To compare the performance of these gradient-field-based methods, quantitative results and visual effect maps of orientation estimation are given on simulated and real fringepatterns that demonstrate that the RSVD produces the best estimation results at a cost of relatively less time.

This paper presents an automatic procedure of pseudo-colour encoding of moire fringe orders. A carrier consisting of parallel fringes is introduced before the specimen deforms. The carrier pattern is captured by a camera and then stored in computer as a standard image. The space of the carrier fringes is distored by the strains on the specimen as it is loaded. On a certain condition, the orders of the frequency-modulated carrier still vary monotonically so that they can be easyly distinguished. Both the standard fringe-carrier and the frequency-modulated fringepattern are transformed into two digital images, of which every fringe is encoded by one of the pseudo-colour codes corresponding to the monotonical fringe orders. At each pixel, the difference between the colour sequences of two images is calculated to obtain the fringe order of pure deformation. The moire pattern of the in-plane displacement is restored as a pseudo-colour image by whose colour-change the variation of the fringe orders is displayed. (orig.)

Presented method for fringepattern enhancement has been designed for processing and analyzing low quality fringepatterns. It uses a modified fast and adaptive bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (FABEMD) for the extraction of bidimensional intrinsic mode functions (BIMFs) from an interferogram. Fringepattern is then selectively reconstructed (SR) taking the regions of selected BIMFs with high modulation values only. Amplitude demodulation and normalization of the reconstructed image is conducted using the spiral phase Hilbert transform (HS). It has been tested using computer generated interferograms and real data. The performance of the presented SR-FABEMD-HS method is compared with other normalization techniques. Its superiority, potential and robustness to high fringe density variations and the presence of noise, modulation and background illumination defects in analyzed fringepatterns has been corroborated.

By combining a fringeprojection setup with a telecentric lens, a fringepattern could be projected and imaged within a small area, making it possible to measure the three-dimensional (3D) surfaces of micro-components. This paper focuses on the flexible calibration of the fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) system using a telecentric lens. An analytical telecentric projector-camera calibration model is introduced, in which the rig structure parameters remain invariant for all views, and the 3D calibration target can be located on the projector image plane with sub-pixel precision. Based on the presented calibration model, a two-step calibration procedure is proposed. First, the initial parameters, e.g., the projector-camera rig, projector intrinsic matrix, and coordinates of the control points of a 3D calibration target, are estimated using the affine camera factorization calibration method. Second, a bundle adjustment algorithm with various simultaneous views is applied to refine the calibrated parameters, especially the rig structure parameters and coordinates of the control points forth 3D target. Because the control points are determined during the calibration, there is no need for an accurate 3D reference target, whose is costly and extremely difficult to fabricate, particularly for tiny objects used to calibrate the telecentric FPP system. Real experiments were performed to validate the performance of the proposed calibration method. The test results showed that the proposed approach is very accurate and reliable.

As the most important core part of stereo vision, there are still many problems to solve in stereo matching technology. For smooth surfaces on which feature points are not easy to extract, this paper adds a projector into stereo vision measurement system based on fringeprojection techniques, according to the corresponding point phases which extracted from the left and right camera images are the same, to realize rapid matching of stereo vision. And the mathematical model of measurement system is established and the three-dimensional (3D) surface of the measured object is reconstructed. This measurement method can not only broaden application fields of optical 3D measurement technology, and enrich knowledge achievements in the field of optical 3D measurement, but also provide potential possibility for the commercialized measurement system in practical projects, which has very important scientific research significance and economic value.

Filtering off speckle noise from a fringe image is one of the key tasks in electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). In general, ESPI fringe images can be divided into three categories: low-density fringe images, high-density fringe images, and variable-density fringe images. In this paper, we first present a general filtering method based on variational image decomposition that can filter speckle noise for ESPI fringe images with various densities. In our method, a variable-density ESPI fringe image is decomposed into low-density fringes, high-density fringes, and noise. A low-density fringe image is decomposed into low-density fringes and noise. A high-density fringe image is decomposed into high-density fringes and noise. We give some suitable function spaces to describe low-density fringes, high-density fringes, and noise, respectively. Then we construct several models and numerical algorithms for ESPI fringe images with various densities. And we investigate the performance of these models via our extensive experiments. Finally, we compare our proposed models with the windowed Fourier transform method and coherence enhancing diffusion partial differential equation filter. These two methods may be the most effective filtering methods at present. Furthermore, we use the proposed method to filter a collection of the experimentally obtained ESPI fringe images with poor quality. The experimental results demonstrate the performance of our proposed method.

This paper aims to evaluate different parameters which affect the accuracy of the final results. For this purpose, some test were designed and implemented. These tests assess the number of phase shifts, spatial frequency of the fringepattern, light condition, noise level of images, and the color and material of target objects on the quality of resulted phase map. The evaluation results demonstrate that digital fringeprojection method is capable of obtaining depth map of complicated object with high accuracy. The contrast test results showed that this method is able to work under different ambient light condition; although at places with high light condition will not work properly. The results of implementation on different objects with various materials, color and shapes demonstrate the high capability of this method of 3D reconstruction.

A fast and accurate measurement of corneal topography is an important task especially since laser induced corneal reshaping has been used for the correction of ametropia. The classical measuring system uses Placido rings for the measurement and calculation of the topography or local curvatures. Another approach is the projection of a known fringe map to be imaged onto the surface under a certain angle of incidence. We present a set-up using telecentric illumination and detection units. With a special grating we get a synthetic wavelength with a nearly sinusoidal profile. In combination with a very fast data acquisition the topography can be evaluated using as special selfnormalizing phase evaluation algorithm. It calculates local Fourier coefficients and corrects errors caused by imperfect illumination or inhomogeneous scattering by fringe normalization. The topography can be determined over 700 by 256 pixel. The set-up is suitable to measure optically rough silicon replica of the human cornea as well as the cornea in vivo over a field of 8 mm and more. The resolution is mainly limited by noise and is better than two micrometers. We discuss the principle benefits and the drawbacks compared with standard Placido technique.

Full Text Available In order to acquire an accurate three-dimensional (3D measurement, the traditional fringeprojection technique applies complex and laborious procedures to compensate for the errors that exist in the vision system. However, the error sources in the vision system are very complex, such as lens distortion, lens defocus, and fringepattern nonsinusoidality. Some errors cannot even be explained or rendered with clear expressions and are difficult to compensate directly as a result. In this paper, an approach is proposed that avoids the complex and laborious compensation procedure for error sources but still promises accurate 3D measurement. It is realized by the mathematical model extension technique. The parameters of the extended mathematical model for the ’phase to 3D coordinates transformation’ are derived using the least-squares parameter estimation algorithm. In addition, a phase-coding method based on a frequency analysis is proposed for the absolute phase map retrieval to spatially isolated objects. The results demonstrate the validity and the accuracy of the proposed flexible fringeprojection vision system on spatially continuous and discontinuous objects for 3D measurement.

In order to acquire an accurate three-dimensional (3D) measurement, the traditional fringeprojection technique applies complex and laborious procedures to compensate for the errors that exist in the vision system. However, the error sources in the vision system are very complex, such as lens distortion, lens defocus, and fringepattern nonsinusoidality. Some errors cannot even be explained or rendered with clear expressions and are difficult to compensate directly as a result. In this paper, an approach is proposed that avoids the complex and laborious compensation procedure for error sources but still promises accurate 3D measurement. It is realized by the mathematical model extension technique. The parameters of the extended mathematical model for the 'phase to 3D coordinates transformation' are derived using the least-squares parameter estimation algorithm. In addition, a phase-coding method based on a frequency analysis is proposed for the absolute phase map retrieval to spatially isolated objects. The results demonstrate the validity and the accuracy of the proposed flexible fringeprojection vision system on spatially continuous and discontinuous objects for 3D measurement.

The interference of two crossed laser beams results in a standing wave. Such fringepatterns are exploited in different instruments such as interferometers or laser-Doppler anemometers. We create a fringepattern in the sample plane of a microscope using a compact apparatus based on a Kösters prism. The fringepattern is shown to be spatially and temporally very stable, covers a large area, and its spacing is easily tunable. In addition, we exploit it to impose a sinusoidal potential on colloidal particles.

In this paper, we propose a new ultrafast layer based CGH calculation that exploits the sparsity of hologram fringepattern in 3-D object layer. Specifically, we devise a sparse template holographic fringepattern. The holographic fringepattern on a depth layer can be rapidly calculated by adding the sparse template holographic fringepatterns at each object point position. Since the size of sparse template holographic fringepattern is much smaller than that of the CGH plane, the computational load can be significantly reduced. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves 10-20 msec for 1024x1024 pixels providing visually plausible results.

In phase-shifting fringeprojection profilometry, the luminance nonlinearity of the used projector has been recognized as one of the most crucial factors decreasing the measurement accuracy. To solve this problem, this paper presents a self-correcting technique that allows us to suppress the effect of the projector nonlinearity in the absence of any calibration data regarding the projector intensities or regarding the phase errors. In its first step, the standard phase-shifting algorithm is used to recover the phases, as well as the background intensities and the modulations. Using these results enables normalizing the fringepatterns, for ridding them of the effects of the background and modulations. Second, we smooth the calculated phase map by use of a low-pass filter in order to remove the ripple-like phase errors induced by the projector nonlinearity. Third, we determine a polynomial representing the projector nonlinearity by fitting the curve of the normalized fringe intensities against the cosine values of the smoothed phases. Finally, we correct the phase errors using the curve just obtained. Doing these steps in an iterative way eventually results in a phase map and, further, a 3D shape with their artifacts induced by the projector nonlinearity suppressed significantly. Experimental results demonstrate that this technique offers some advantages over others. It does not require a prior calibration of the projector, thus being suitable for dealing with a time-variant nonlinearity; its pointwise operation protects the edges and details of the measurement results from being blurred; and it works well with very few fringepatterns and is efficient in image capturing.

The filtering of discontinuous optical fringepatterns is a challenging problem faced in this area. This paper is concerned with oriented partial differential equations (OPDEs)-based image filtering methods for discontinuous optical fringepatterns. We redefine a new controlling speed function to depend on the orientation coherence. The orientation coherence can be used to distinguish the continuous regions and the discontinuous regions, and can be calculated by utilizing fringe orientation. We introduce the new controlling speed function to the previous OPDEs and propose adaptive OPDEs filtering models. According to our proposed adaptive OPDEs filtering models, the filtering in the continuous and discontinuous regions can be selectively carried out. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed adaptive OPDEs via application to the simulated and experimental fringepatterns, and compare our methods with the previous OPDEs.

Fingerprint is a unique, un-alterable and easily collected biometric of a human being. Although it is a 3D biological characteristic, traditional methods are designed to provide only a 2D image. This touch based mapping of 3D shape to 2D image losses information and leads to nonlinear distortions. Moreover, as only topographic details are captured, conventional systems are potentially vulnerable to spoofing materials (e.g. artificial fingers, dead fingers, false prints, etc.). In this work, we demonstrate an anti-spoof touchless 3D fingerprint detection system using a combination of single shot fringeprojection and biospeckle analysis. For fingerprint detection using fringeprojection, light from a low power LED source illuminates a finger through a sinusoidal grating. The fringepattern modulated because of features on the fingertip is captured using a CCD camera. Fourier transform method based frequency filtering is used for the reconstruction of 3D fingerprint from the captured fringepattern. In the next step, for spoof detection using biospeckle analysis a visuo-numeric algorithm based on modified structural function and non-normalized histogram is proposed. High activity biospeckle patterns are generated because of interaction of collimated laser light with internal fluid flow of the real finger sample. This activity reduces abruptly in case of layered fake prints, and is almost absent in dead or fake fingers. Furthermore, the proposed setup is fast, low-cost, involves non-mechanical scanning and is highly stable.

Here we describe a 2-projectors and 1-camera setup for profilometry of discontinuous solids by means of co-phased demodulation of projectedfringes and red, green, and blue (RGB) multichannel operation. The dual projection configuration for this profilometer is proposed to solve efficiently specular regions and self-occluding shadows due to discontinuities, which are the main drawbacks for a 1-projector 1-camera configuration. This is because the regions where shadows and specular reflections are generated, and the fringe contrast drops to zero, are in general different for each projection direction; thus, the resulting fringepatterns will have complementary phase information. Multichannel RGB operation allows us to work simultaneously with both projectors and to record independently the complementary fringepatterns phase-modulated by the 3D profile of the object under study. In other words, color encoding/decoding reduces the acquisition time respect to one-at-a-time grayscale operation and, in principle, enables the study of dynamic phenomena. The co-phased demodulation method implemented in this work benefits from the complex (analytic) nature of the output signals estimated with most phase demodulation methods (such as the Fourier method, and temporal phaseshifting algorithms). This allowed us to straightforwardly generate a single phase-map well-defined for the entire area of interest. Finally we assessed our proposed profilometry setup by measuring a fractured spherical cap made of (uncoated) expanded polystyrene. The results were satisfactory but in the authors' opinion this must be considered a preliminary report.

We present a pattern-recognition-based approach to the problem of the removal of polarized fringes from spectro-polarimetric data. We demonstrate that two-dimensional principal component analysis can be trained on a given spectro-polarimetric map in order to identify and isolate fringe structures from the spectra. This allows us, in principle, to reconstruct the data without the fringe component, providing an effective and clean solution to the problem. The results presented in this paper point in the direction of revising the way that science and calibration data should be planned for a typical spectro-polarimetric observing run.

The theory that provides the interpretation of interferometric fringes as frequency modulated signals, is used to show that the electrooptical system used to analyze fringepatterns can be considered as a simultaneous Fourier spectrum analyzer. This interpretation generalizes the quasi-heterodyning techniques. It is pointed out that the same equations that yield the discrete Fourier transform as summations, yield correct values for a reduced number of steps. Examples of application of the proposed technique to electronic holography are given. It is found that for a uniform field the standard deviation of the individual readings is 1/20 of the fringe spacing.

Fringeprojection three-dimensional measurement is widely applied in a wide range of industrial application. The traditional fringeprojection system has the disadvantages of high expense, big size, and complicated calibration requirements. In this paper we introduce a low-cost and portable realization on three-dimensional measurement with Pico projector. It has the advantages of low cost, compact physical size, and flexible configuration. For the proposed fringeprojection system, there is no restriction to camera and projector's relative alignment on parallelism and perpendicularity for installation. Moreover, plane-based calibration method is adopted in this paper that avoids critical requirements on calibration system such as additional gauge block or precise linear z stage. What is more, error sources existing in the proposed system are introduced in this paper. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed low cost and portable fringeprojection system.

Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringepatterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO sub 4) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only t...

This paper theoretically discusses modulus of two-dimensional (2D) wavelet transform (WT) coefficients, calculated by using two frequently used 2D daughter wavelet definitions, in an optical fringepattern analysis. The discussion shows that neither is good enough to represent the reliability of the phase data. The differences between the two frequently used 2D daughter wavelet definitions in the performance of 2D WT also are discussed. We propose a new 2D daughter wavelet definition for reliability-guided phase unwrapping of optical fringepattern. The modulus of the advanced 2D WT coefficients, obtained by using a daughter wavelet under this new daughter wavelet definition, includes not only modulation information but also local frequency information of the deformed fringepattern. Therefore, it can be treated as a good parameter that represents the reliability of the retrieved phase data. Computer simulation and experimentation show the validity of the proposed method.

It is a key step to remove the massive speckle noise in electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) fringepatterns. In the spatial-domain filtering methods, oriented partial differential equations have been demonstrated to be a powerful tool. In the transform-domain filtering methods, the shearlet transform is a state-of-the-art method. In this paper, we propose a filtering method for ESPI fringepatterns denoising, which is a combination of second-order oriented partial differential equation (SOOPDE) and the shearlet transform, named SOOPDE-Shearlet. Here, the shearlet transform is introduced into the ESPI fringepatterns denoising for the first time. This combination takes advantage of the fact that the spatial-domain filtering method SOOPDE and the transform-domain filtering method shearlet transform benefit from each other. We test the proposed SOOPDE-Shearlet on five experimentally obtained ESPI fringepatterns with poor quality and compare our method with SOOPDE, shearlet transform, windowed Fourier filtering (WFF), and coherence-enhancing diffusion (CEDPDE). Among them, WFF and CEDPDE are the state-of-the-art methods for ESPI fringepatterns denoising in transform domain and spatial domain, respectively. The experimental results have demonstrated the good performance of the proposed SOOPDE-Shearlet.

We comment on the recent Letter by Chen and Quan [Opt. Lett.30, 2101 (2005)] in which a least-squares approach was proposed to cope with the nonparallel illumination in fringeprojection profilometry. It is noted that the previous mathematical derivations of the fringe pitch and carrier phase functions on the reference plane were incorrect. In addition, we suggest that the variation of carrier phase along the vertical direction should be considered.

When reconstructing the three-dimensional (3D) object height profile using the fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) technique, the light intensity reflected from the object surface can yield abruptly changing bias in the captured fringe image, which leads to severe reconstruction error. The traditional approach tries to remove the bias by suppressing the zero spectrum of the fringe image. It is based on the assumption that the aliasing between the frequency spectrum of the bias, which is around the zero frequency, and the frequency spectrum of the fringe is negligible. This, however, is not the case in practice. In this paper, we propose a novel (to our knowledge) technique to eliminate the bias in the fringe image using the dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT). The new approach successfully identifies the features of bias, fringe, and noise in the DT-CWT domain, which allows the bias to be effectively extracted from a noisy fringe image. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the traditional methods and facilitates accurate reconstruction of objects' 3D models.

Hand osteoarthritis is one of the most common forms of arthritis which impact millions of people worldwide. The disabling problem occurs when the protective cartilage on the boundaries of bones wear off over time. Currently, in order to identify hand osteoarthritis, special instruments namely X-ray scanning and MRI are used for the detection but it also has its limitations such as radiation exposure and can be quite costly. In this work, an optical metrology system based on digital fringeprojection which comprises of an LCD projector, CCD camera and a personal computer has been developed to anticipate abnormal growth or deformation on the joints of the hand which are common symptoms of osteoarthritis. The main concept of this optical metrology system is to apply structured light as imaging source for surface change detection. The imaging source utilizes fringepatterns generated by C++ programming and is shifted by 3 phase shifts based on the 3 steps 2 shifts method. Phase wrapping technique and analysis were applied in order to detect the deformation of live subjects. The result has demonstrated a successful method of hand deformation detection based on the pixel tracking differences of a normal and deformed state.

The moire method has been extensively studied in the past and applied in various engineering applications. Several techniques are available for generating the moire fringes in these applications, which include moire interferometry, projection moire, shadow moire, moire deflectometry etc. Most of these methods use the superposition of linear gratings to generate the moire patterns. The use of non-linear gratings, such as circular, radial and elongated gratings has received less attention from the research community. The potential of non-linear gratings in engineering measurement has been realized in a limited number of applications, such as rotation measurement, measurement of linear displacement, measurement of expansion coefficients of materials and measurement of strain distribution. In this work, circular gratings of different pitch were applied to the sensing and measurement of crack displacement in concrete structures. Gratings of pitch 0.50 mm and 0.55 mm were generated using computer software and attached to two overlapping acrylic plates that were bonded to either side of the crack. The resulting moire patterns were captured using a standard digital camera and compared with a set of reference patterns generated using a precision positioning stage. Using several image pre-processing stages, such as filtering and morphological operations, and pattern matching the magnitude displacements along two orthogonal axes can be detected with a resolution of 0.05 mm.

We derive the second-order oriented partial-differential equations (PDEs) for denoising in electronic-speckle-pattern interferometry fringepatterns from two points of view. The first is based on variational methods, and the second is based on controlling diffusion direction. Our oriented PDE models make the diffusion along only the fringe orientation. The main advantage of our filtering method, based on oriented PDE models, is that it is very easy to implement compared with the published filtering methods along the fringe orientation. We demonstrate the performance of our oriented PDE models via application to two computer-simulated and experimentally obtained speckle fringes and compare with related PDE models.

In a 3D profilometer by the fringeprojection, the shadow will be produced inevitably, thus the fringes cannot be detected in the region of the shadow. In addition, a smooth surface or a metal surface produces the specular reflection, and then, no projectionfringe can be recorded in the region of oversaturation on CCD. This paper reveals a proposed system for improved these defects and shows some preliminary improved 3D profiles by the proposed dual fringeprojection. To obtain the profile of sample hided in the shadow and the oversaturation, this study used the dual-projection system by two projectors. This system adopted two different directions of fringeprojection and illuminates them alternately, therefore, the shadow and the oversaturation produced in their corresponding locations. Two raw 3D profiles obtained from taking the dual-projection by the four-step phase-shift. A set of algorithms used to identify the pixels of the shadow and the oversaturation, and create an error-map. According to the error-map to compensate, two 3D profiles merged into an error-reduced 3D profile. We used the solder paste as a testing sample. After comparatively analyzing the 3D images obtained by our measurement system and by a contact stylus profilometer, the result shows that our measurement system can effectively reduce the error caused by shadows and oversaturation. Fringeprojection system by using a projector is a non-contact, full field and quickly measuring system. The proposed dual-projection by dual-projectors can effectively reduce the shadow and the oversaturation errors and enhance the scope of application of the 3D contour detection, especially in the detection of precision structure parts with specular reflection.

This paper analyzes the dynamics of laser speckles and fringes, formed in an imaging-speckle-pattern interferometer with the purpose of sensing linear three-dimensional motion and out-of-plane components of rotation in real time, using optical spatial-filtering-velocimetry techniques. The ensemble......-average definition of the cross-correlation function is applied to the intensity distributions, obtained in the observation plane at two positions of the object. The theoretical analysis provides a description for the dynamics of both the speckles and the fringes. The analysis reveals that both the magnitude...... and direction of all three linear displacement components of the object movement can be determined. Simultaneously, out-ofplane rotation of the object including the corresponding directions can be determined from the spatial gradient of the in-plane fringe motion throughout the observation plane. The theory...

3D displacement fields are measured by the combination of two optical methods, fringeprojection and speckle photography. The use of only one camera recording the necessary information implies that no calibration procedures are necessary as is the case in techniques based on stereoscopy. The out-of-plane displacement is measured by fringeprojection whereas speckle photography yields the 2-D in-plane component. To show the feasibility of the technique, we analyze a detailed morphological spatio-temporal evolution of a model of the Earth's crust while subjected to compression forces. The results show that the combination of fringeprojection and speckle photography is well suited for this type of studies

Breast carcinoma is rated as a second collective cause of cancer associated death among adult females. Detection of the disease at an early stage would enhance the chance for survival. Established detection methods such as mammography, ultrasound and MRI are classified as non invasive breast cancer detection modality, but however they are not entire non-invasive as physical contact still occurs to the breast. Thus requirement for a complete non invasive and non contact is evident. Therefore, in this work, a novel application of digital fringeprojection for early detection of breast cancer based on breast surface analysis is reported. Phase shift fringeprojection technique and pixel tracing method was utilized to analyze the breast surface change due to the incidence of breast lump. Results have shown that the digital fringeprojection is capable in detecting the existence of 1 cm sized lump within the breast sample.

A new fibre optic Lloyd's mirror method is developed for extracting 3-D height distribution of various objects at the micron scale with a resolution of 4 μm. The fibre optic assembly is elegantly integrated to an optical microscope and a CCD camera. It is demonstrated that the proposed technique is quite suitable and practical to produce an interference pattern with an adjustable frequency. By increasing the distance between the fibre and the mirror with a micrometre stage in the Lloyd's mirror assembly, the separation between the two bright fringes is lowered down to the micron scale without using any additional elements as part of the optical projection unit. A fibre optic cable, whose polymer jacket is partially stripped, and a microfluidic channel are used as test objects to extract their surface topographies. Point by point sensitivity of the method is found to be around 8 μm, changing a couple of microns depending on the fringe frequency and the measured height. A straightforward calibration procedure for the phase to height conversion is also introduced by making use of the vertical moving stage of the optical microscope. The phase analysis of the acquired image is carried out by One Dimensional Continuous Wavelet Transform for which the chosen wavelet is the Morlet wavelet and the carrier removal of the projectedfringepatterns is achieved by reference subtraction. Furthermore, flexible multi-frequency property of the proposed method allows measuring discontinuous heights where there are phase ambiguities like 2π by lowering the fringe frequency and eliminating the phase ambiguity.

Retrieving information in real time from fringepatterns is a topic of a great deal of interest in scientific and engineering applications of optical methods. This paper presents a method for fringe frequency determination based on the capability of neural networks to recognize signals that are similar but not identical to signals used to train the neural network. Sampled patterns are generated by calibration and stored in memory. Incoming patterns are analyzed by a back-propagation neural network at the speed of the recording device, a CCD camera. This method of information retrieval is utilized to measure pressures on a boundary layer flow. The sensor combines optics and electronics to analyze dynamic pressure distributions and to feed information to a control system that is capable to preserve the stability of the flow.

Three dimensional shape measurement in the microscopic range becomes increasingly important with the development of micro manufacturing technology. Microscopic fringeprojection techniques offer a fast, robust, and full-field measurement for field sizes from approximately 1 mm2 to several cm2. However, the depth of field is very small due to the imaging of non-telecentric microscope, which is often not sufficient to measure the complete depth of a 3D-object. And the calibration of phase-to-depth conversion is complicated which need a precision translation stage and a reference plane. In this paper, we propose a novel telecentric phase-shifting projectedfringe profilometry for small and thick objects. Telecentric imaging extends the depth of field approximately to millimeter order, which is much larger than that of microscopy. To avoid the complicated phase-to-depth conversion in microscopic fringeprojection, we develop a new system calibration method of camera and projector based on telecentric imaging model. Based on these, a 3D reconstruction of telecentric imaging is presented with stereovision aided by fringe phase maps. Experiments demonstrated the feasibility and high measurement accuracy of the proposed system for thick object.

Phase-shifting fringeprojection profilometry (PSFPP) is a three-dimensional (3D) measurement technique widely adopted in industry measurement. It recovers the 3D profile of measured objects with the aid of the fringe phase. The phase accuracy is among the dominant factors that determine the 3D measurement accuracy. Evaluation of the phase accuracy helps refine adjustable measurement parameters, contributes to evaluating the 3D measurement accuracy, and facilitates improvement of the measurement accuracy. Although PSFPP has been deeply researched, an effective, easy-to-use phase accuracy evaluation method remains to be explored. In this paper, methods based on the uniform-phase coded image (UCI) are presented to accomplish phase accuracy evaluation for PSFPP. These methods work on the principle that the phase value of a UCI can be manually set to be any value, and once the phase value of a UCI pixel is the same as that of a pixel of a corresponding sinusoidal fringepattern, their phase accuracy values are approximate. The proposed methods provide feasible approaches to evaluating the phase accuracy for PSFPP. Furthermore, they can be used to experimentally research the property of the random and gamma phase errors in PSFPP without the aid of a mathematical model to express random phase error or a large-step phase-shifting algorithm. In this paper, some novel and interesting phenomena are experimentally uncovered with the aid of the proposed methods.

We present an investigation into the phase errors that occur in fringepattern analysis that are caused by quantization effects. When acquisition devices with a limited value of camera bit depth are used, there are a limited number of quantization levels available to record the signal. This may adversely affect the recorded signal and adds a potential source of instrumental error to the measurement system. Quantization effects also determine the accuracy that may be achieved by acquisition devices in a measurement system. We used the Fourier fringe analysis measurement technique. However, the principles can be applied equally well for other phase measuring techniques to yield a phase error distribution that is caused by the camera bit depth.

We introduce a flexible error correction method for fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) systems in the presence of local blur phenomenon. Local blur caused by global light transport such as camera defocus, projector defocus, and subsurface scattering will cause significant systematic errors in FPP systems. Previous methods, which adopt high-frequency patterns to separate the direct and global components, fail when the global light phenomenon occurs locally. In this paper, the influence of local blur on phase quality is thoroughly analyzed, and a concise error correction method is proposed to compensate the phase errors. For defocus phenomenon, this method can be directly applied. With the aid of spatially varying point spread functions and local frontal plane assumption, experiments show that the proposed method can effectively alleviate the system errors and improve the final reconstruction accuracy in various scenes. For a subsurface scattering scenario, if the translucent object is dominated by multiple scattering, the proposed method can also be applied to correct systematic errors once the bidirectional scattering-surface reflectance distribution function of the object material is measured.

This paper introduces a high-speed three-dimensional (3-D) shape measurement technique for dynamic scenes by using bi-frequency tripolar pulse-width-modulation (TPWM) fringeprojection. Two wrapped phase maps with different wavelengths can be obtained simultaneously by our bi-frequency phase-shifting algorithm. Then the two phase maps are unwrapped using a simple look-up-table based number-theoretical approach. To guarantee the robustness of phase unwrapping as well as the high sinusoidality of projectedpatterns, TPWM technique is employed to generate ideal fringepatterns with slight defocus. We detailed our technique, including its principle, pattern design, and system setup. Several experiments on dynamic scenes were performed, verifying that our method can achieve a speed of 1250 frames per second for fast, dense, and accurate 3-D measurements.

Fast and accurate rotational speed measurement is required both for condition monitoring and faults diagnose of rotating machineries. A vision- and fringepattern-based rotational speed measurement system was proposed to measure the instantaneous rotational speed (IRS) with high accuracy and reliability. A special double-sine-varying-density fringepattern (DSVD-FP) was designed and pasted around the shaft surface completely and worked as primary angular sensor. The rotational angle could be correctly obtained from the left and right fringe period densities (FPDs) of the DSVD-FP image sequence recorded by a high-speed camera. The instantaneous angular speed (IAS) between two adjacent frames could be calculated from the real-time rotational angle curves, thus, the IRS also could be obtained accurately and efficiently. Both the measurement principle and system design of the novel method have been presented. The influence factors on the sensing characteristics and measurement accuracy of the novel system, including the spectral centrobaric correction method (SCCM) on the FPD calculation, the noise sources introduce by the image sensor, the exposure time and the vibration of the shaft, were investigated through simulations and experiments. The sampling rate of the high speed camera could be up to 5000 Hz, thus, the measurement becomes very fast and the change in rotational speed was sensed within 0.2 ms. The experimental results for different IRS measurements and characterization of the response property of a servo motor demonstrated the high accuracy and fast measurement of the proposed technique, making it attractive for condition monitoring and faults diagnosis of rotating machineries.

Nuclear emulsions are capable of very high position resolution in the detection of ionizing particles. This feature can be exploited to directly resolve the micrometric-scale fringepattern produced by a matter-wave interferometer for low energy positrons (in the 10–20 keV range). We have tested the performance of emulsion films in this specific scenario. Exploiting silicon nitride diffraction gratings as absorption masks, we produced periodic patterns with features comparable to the expected interferometer signal. Test samples with periodicities of 6, 7 and 20 μ m were exposed to the positron beam, and the patterns clearly reconstructed. Our results support the feasibility of matter-wave interferometry experiments with positrons.

For 1D signals, it is necessary to resort to a 2D abstract space because the concept of phase utilized in the retrieval of fringepattern analysis information relies on the use of a vectorial function. Fourier and Hilbert transforms provide in-quadrature signals that lead to the very important basic concept of local phase. A 3D abstract space must hence be generated in order to analyze 2D signals. A 3D vector space in a Cartesian complex space is graphically represented by a Poincare sphere. In this study, the extension of the associated spaces is extended to 3D. A 4D hypersphere is defined for that purpose. The proposed approach is illustrated by determining the deformations of the heart left ventricle.

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers an industrial solution to produce parts with complex geometries and internal structures that conventional manufacturing techniques cannot produce. However, current metal additive process, particularly the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process, suffers from poor surface finish and various material defects which hinder its wide applications. One way to solve this problem is by adding in situ metrology sensor onto the machine chamber. Matured manufacturing processes are tightly monitored and controlled, and instrumentation advances are needed to realize this same advantage for metal additive process. This encourages us to develop an in situ fringeprojection system for the LPBF process. The development of such a system and the measurement capability are demonstrated in this dissertation. We show that this system can measure various powder bed signatures including powder layer variations, the average height drop between fused metal and unfused powder, and the height variations on the fused surfaces. The ability to measure textured surface is also evaluated through the instrument transfer function (ITF). We analyze the mathematical model of the proposed fringeprojection system, and prove the linearity of the system through simulations. A practical ITF measurement technique using a stepped surface is also demonstrated. The measurement results are compared with theoretical predictions generated through the ITF simulations.

The ability to accurately estimate the location and geometry of holes is often required in the field of quality control and automated assembly. Projectedfringe profilometry is a potentially attractive technique on account of being non-contacting, of lower cost, and orders of magnitude faster than the traditional coordinate measuring machine. However, we demonstrate in this paper that fringeprojection is susceptible to significant (hundreds of µm) measurement artefacts in the neighbourhood of hole edges, which give rise to errors of a similar magnitude in the estimated hole geometry. A mechanism for the phenomenon is identified based on the finite size of the imaging system’s point spread function and the resulting bias produced near to sample discontinuities in geometry and reflectivity. A mathematical model is proposed, from which a post-processing compensation algorithm is developed to suppress such errors around the holes. The algorithm includes a robust and accurate sub-pixel edge detection method based on a Fourier descriptor of the hole contour. The proposed algorithm was found to reduce significantly the measurement artefacts near the hole edges. As a result, the errors in estimated hole radius were reduced by up to one order of magnitude, to a few tens of µm for hole radii in the range 2–15 mm, compared to those from the uncompensated measurements.

In this work we show the principle of optical 3D surface measurements based on the fringeprojection technique for underwater applications. The challenges of underwater use of this technique are shown and discussed in comparison with the classical application. We describe an extended camera model which takes refraction effects into account as well as a proposal of an effective, low-effort calibration procedure for underwater optical stereo scanners. This calibration technique combines a classical air calibration based on the pinhole model with ray-based modeling and requires only a few underwater recordings of an object of known length and a planar surface. We demonstrate a new underwater 3D scanning device based on the fringeprojection technique. It has a weight of about 10 kg and the maximal water depth for application of the scanner is 40 m. It covers an underwater measurement volume of 250 mm × 200 mm × 120 mm. The surface of the measurement objects is captured with a lateral resolution of 150 μm in a third of a second. Calibration evaluation results are presented and examples of first underwater measurements are given.

A key issue in the development of China's growing megacities in the transport-related environmental costs due to rapid urban expansion. In light of this issue, the authors examine the impact of urban form on commuting patterns on the city fringe of Beijing. Based on household-survey data, the

Simultaneous dual-wavelength interferometry (SDWI) could extend the measured range of each single-wavelength interferometry. The moiré fringe generated in SDWI indirectly represents the information of the measured long synthetic-wavelength ({λ }{{S}}) phase, thus the phase demodulation is rather arduous. To address this issue, we present a method to convert the moiré fringepattern into a synthetic-wavelength interferogram (moiré to synthetic-wavelength, MTS). After the square of the moiré fringepattern in the MTS method, the additive moiré pattern is turned into a multiplicative one. And the synthetic-wavelength interferogram could be obtained by a low-pass filtering in spectrum of the multiplicative moiré fringepattern. Therefore, when the dual-wavelength interferometer is implemented with the π/2 phase shift at {λ }{{S}}, a sequence of synthetic-wavelength phase-shift interferograms with π/2 phase shift could be obtained after the MTS method processing on the captured moiré fringepatterns. And then the synthetic-wavelength phase could be retrieved by the conventional phase-shift algorithm. Compared with other methods in SDWI, the proposed MTS approach could reduce the restriction of the phase shift and frame numbers for the adoption of the conventional phase-shift algorithm. Following, numerical simulations are executed to evaluate the performance of the MTS method in processing time, frames of interferograms and the phase shift error compensation. And the necessary linear carrier for MTS method is less than 0.11 times of the traditional dual-wavelength spatial-domain Fourier transform method. Finally, the deviations for MTS method in experiment are 0.97% for a step with the height of 7.8 μm and 1.11% for a Fresnel lens with the step height of 6.2328 μm.

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in 3D measurement techniques, contributing to the realization of faster and more accurate 3D measurement. As a representative of these techniques, fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) has become a commonly used method for real-time 3D measurement, such as real-time quality control and online inspection. To date, most related research has been concerned with macroscopic 3D measurement, but microscopic 3D measurement, especially real-time microscopic 3D measurement, is rarely reported. However, microscopic 3D measurement plays an important role in 3D metrology and is indispensable in some applications in measuring micro scale objects like the accurate metrology of MEMS components of the final devices to ensure their proper performance. In this paper, we proposed a method which effectively combines optimized binary structured patterns with a number-theoretical phase unwrapping algorithm to realize real-time microscopic 3D measurement. A slight defocusing of our optimized binary patterns can considerably alleviate the measurement error based on four-step phase-shifting FPP, providing the binary patterns with a comparable performance to ideal sinusoidal patterns. The static measurement accuracy can reach 8 μm, and the experimental results of a vibrating earphone diaphragm reveal that our system can successfully realize real-time 3D measurement of 120 frames per second (FPS) with a measurement range of 8~\\text{mm}× 6~\\text{mm} in lateral and 8 mm in depth.

The 6-hectare (ha) freshwater tidal Anacostia River Fringe Wetlands (Fringe Wetlands) were reconstructed along the mainstem of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC (Photograph 1, Figure 1) during the summer of 2003. The Fringe Wetlands consist of two separate planting cells. Fringe A, located adjacent to Lower Kingman Island, on the west bank of the Anacostia River, occupies 1.6 ha; Fringe B, located on the east bank of the Anacostia River, occupies 4.4 ha. This project is the third in a series of freshwater tidal wetland reconstructions on the Anacostia River designed and implemented by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Baltimore District and District Department of the Environment (DDOE) on lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS). The first was Kenilworth Marsh, reconstructed in 1993 (Syphax and Hammerschlag 2005); the second was Kingman Marsh, reconstructed in 2000 (Hammerschlag et al. 2006). Kenilworth and Kingman were both constructed in low-energy backwaters of the Anacostia. However, the Fringe Wetlands, which were constructed on two pre-existing benches along the high-energy mainstem, required sheet piling to provide protection from erosive impacts of increased flow and volume of water associated with storm events during the establishment phase (Photograph 2). All three projects required the placement of dredged sediment materials to increase elevations enough to support emergent vegetation (Photograph 3). The purpose of all three wetland reconstruction projects was to restore pieces of the once extensive tidal freshwater marsh habitat that bordered the Anacostia River historically, prior to the dredge and fill operations and sea wall installation that took place there in the early to mid-1900's (Photograph 4).

Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringepatterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO 4) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only to optimize the crystal processing, but also to establish a quality inspection procedure.

Scintillating crystals are widely used as detectors in radiographic systems, computerized axial tomography devices and in calorimeters employed in high-energy physics. This paper results from a project motivated by the development of the CMS calorimeter at CERN, which will make use of a large number of scintillating crystals. In order to prevent crystals from breaking because of internal residual stress, a quality control system based on optic inspection of interference fringepatterns was developed. The principle of measurement procedures was theoretically modelled, and then a dedicated polariscope was designed and built, in order to observe the crystals under induced stresses or to evaluate the residual internal stresses. The results are innovative and open a new perspective for scintillating crystals quality control: the photoelastic constant normal to the optic axis of the lead tungstate crystals (PbWO 4 ) was measured, and the inspection procedure developed is applicable to mass production, not only to optimize the crystal processing, but also to establish a quality inspection procedure

This paper presents a thorough discussion of the proposed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation for fringepattern demodulation using the one-dimensional continuous wavelet transform (1D-CWT) algorithm. This algorithm is also known as wavelet transform profilometry. Initially, the 1D-CWT is programmed using the C programming language and compiled into VHDL using the ImpulseC tool. This VHDL code is implemented on the Altera Cyclone IV GX EP4CGX150DF31C7 FPGA. A fringepattern image with a size of 512×512 pixels is presented to the FPGA, which processes the image using the 1D-CWT algorithm. The FPGA requires approximately 100 ms to process the image and produce a wrapped phase map. For performance comparison purposes, the 1D-CWT algorithm is programmed using the C language. The C code is then compiled using the Intel compiler version 13.0. The compiled code is run on a Dell Precision state-of-the-art workstation. The time required to process the fringepattern image is approximately 1 s. In order to further reduce the execution time, the 1D-CWT is reprogramed using Intel Integrated Primitive Performance (IPP) Library Version 7.1. The execution time was reduced to approximately 650 ms. This confirms that at least sixfold speedup was gained using FPGA implementation over a state-of-the-art workstation that executes heavily optimized implementation of the 1D-CWT algorithm.

物体表面三维形貌数据的获取在智能制造、航空航天、文物保护、医疗卫生、远程教育等领域有着广泛的应用.三维形貌数据的获取受限于系统硬件的性能,特别是现有数字投影系统的投影速度,无法快速测得物体面形的三维形貌.彩色成像和投影系统的出现,为并行多颜色通道三维成像系统提供了新的研究方向.详细综述了基于彩色条纹投影术的三维形貌数据测量研究的现状.具体包括彩色条纹投影术的基本原理、彩色条纹调制和解调相关技术、三维成像系统的标定、以及未来的研究方向.接着给出几个利用彩色条纹投影术获取物体表面三维形貌和彩色纹理的实例.为彩色条纹投影术测量物体表面三维形貌数据提供了详尽的综述,并指明了未来潜在的研究新方向.%3D shape acquisition of object surface has been widely used in the fields of intelligent manufacturing,aerospace,cultural relics protection,health care,remote education,and so on.Due to the limitation of hardware performance,especially the projection speed of existing digital projection system,3D shape of object can not be obtained quickly.Hence,the appearance of color imaging and projection system provides a new research direction for 3D imaging system of parallel color channel.This paper reviews the status of 3D shape measurement techniques by projecting and capturing colour fringepattern images on the object surface in detail.The principle of colour fringeprojection technique,the modulation and demodulation of colour fringepattern,the calibration of 3D imaging system and the directions for future research are analyzed.Moreover,several case studies are illustrated to obtain the 3D shape and colour texture using colour fringeprojection techniques.This paper summarizes the 3D shape measurement techniques based on colour fringepattern images on the object surface elaborately,and the challenging issues and

Moiré topography is a well-established optical technique to measure the shape of three-dimensional surfaces, based on the geometric interference between an optical grid and its image deformed by an object surface. The technique produces fringes that represent contours of equal height, and from the recordings of several phase-shifted topograms surface height coordinates can be calculated. To perform these calculations, it is assumed that object height variation is small in comparison with the measurement setup dimensions, and this approximation leads to systematic errors in measurement accuracy. We present the mathematical description of the fringe formation process in projection moiré topography, and on the basis of these equations we establish the relation between setup geometry and upper limits of the systematic measurement errors. We derive the equations that determine design specifications needed to reduce the effects of approximations to be below the measurement resolution of the setup. It is shown that setup geometry should be adapted to the gray-scale measurement resolution of the imaging system. We show that, using an iterative correction from one fringe order to the next, measurement accuracy can be maintained over the entire object depth.

A non-projectionfringe vision measurement system suitable for vibration monitoring was proposed by using the concept of a 2D optical coherence vibration tomography (2D-OCVT) technique. An artificial quasi-interferogram fringepattern (QIFP), similar to the interferogram of the 2D-OCVT system, was pasted onto the surface of a vibrating structure as a sensor. Image sequences of the QIFP were captured by a high-speed CMOS camera that worked as a detector. It was possible to obtain both the in-plane and out-of-plane vibration simultaneously. The in-plane vibration was obtained by tracking the center of the imaged QIFP using an image cross-correlation method, whilst the out-of-plane vibration was obtained from the changes in period density of the imaged QIFP. The influence of the noise sources from the CMOS image sensor, together with the effect of the imaging distance, the period density of the QIFP and also the key parameters of the fringe density enhanced by the spectrum correction method on the accuracy of the displacement measurement, were investigated by numerical simulations and experiments. Compared with the results from a conventional accelerometer-based measurement system, the proposed method was demonstrated to be an effective and accurate technique for measuring structural vibration without introducing any extra mass from the accelerometer. The significant advantages of this method include its simple installation and real-time dynamic response measurement capability, making the measurement system ideal for the low- and high-frequency vibration monitoring of engineering structures. (paper)

Fringe wetlands are characterized by the dominance of few species, a clear species zonation, synchrony of ecological processes with episodic events, and simplicity in the structure of vegetation. The structure and ecosystem dynamics of fringe forested wetlands are presented with emphasis on saltwater wetlands because they have been studied more than freshwater ones. The study areas were Caribbean and Florida mangroves. Fringe wetlands are found on the water edge of oceans, inland estuaries, and lakes. Water motion in the fringe is bi-directional and perpendicular to the forest and due mostly to tidal energy in oceanic and estuarine fringes. in lakes, water moves in and out of the fringe under the influence of wind, waves, or seiches. some fringe forests are occasionally flushed by terrestrial runoff or aquifer discharge. In contrast, fringe forests located on small offshore islands or steep coastal shroes are isolated from terrestrial runoff or aquifer discharge, and their hydroperiod is controlled by tides and waves only. Literature reviews suggest that ecosystem parameters such as vegetation structure, tree growth, primary productivity, and organic matter in sediments respond proportionally to hydrologic energy. Human activity that impacts on fringe forested wetlands include harvesting of trees, oil pollution and eutrophication. 72 refs., 12 figs., 9 tabs

Two-beam multipoint laser Doppler velocimetry (two-beam MLDV) is a non-invasive imaging technique able to provide an image of two-dimensional blood flow and has potential for observing cancer as previously demonstrated in a mouse model. In two-beam MLDV, the blood flow velocity can be estimated from red blood cells passing through a fringepattern generated in the skin. The fringepattern is created at the intersection of two beams in conventional LDV and two-beam MLDV. Being able to choose the depth position is an advantage of two-beam MLDV, and the position of a blood vessel can be identified in a three-dimensional space using this technique. Initially, we observed the fringepattern in the skin, and the undeveloped or developed speckle pattern generated in a deeper position of the skin. The validity of the absolute velocity value detected by two-beam MLDV was verified while changing the number of layers of skin around a transparent flow channel. The absolute velocity value independent of direction was detected using the developed speckle pattern, which is created by the skin construct and two beams in the flow channel. Finally, we showed the relationship between the signal intensity and the fringepattern, undeveloped speckle, or developed speckle pattern based on the skin depth. The Doppler signals were not detected at deeper positions in the skin, which qualitatively indicates the depth limit for two-beam MLDV.

Detailed microstructural aspects of the interface between YBaCuO thin films and MgO substrate are studied by means of a Fourier analysis of Moire fringepattern obtained from HRTEM investigations of plan view samples. The main features of the observations are large, well oriented crystallographic domains surrounded by wide boundaries. HRTEM investigations together with the Fourier analysis show evidence of both orthorhombic and pseudo-tetragonal structure in the YBaCuO film. An accommodation mechanism is suggested from the Fourier analysis of the Moire fringepattern. (orig.)

In this work, we propose a novel technique to retrieve the 3D shape of dynamic objects by the simultaneous projection of a fringepattern and a homogeneous light pattern which are both coded in two of the color channels of a RGB image. The fringepattern, red channel, is used to retrieve the phase by phase-shift algorithms with arbitrary phase-step, while the homogeneous pattern, blue channel, is used to match pixels from the test object in consecutive images, which are acquired at different positions, and thus, to determine the speed of the object. The proposed method successfully overcomes the standard requirement of projectingfringes of two different frequencies; one frequency to extract object information and the other one to retrieve the phase. Validation experiments are presented.

Grain boundaries (GBs) commonly exist in crystalline materials and affect various properties of materials. The facile identification of GBs is one of the significant requirements for systematical study of polycrystalline materials including recently emerging two-dimensional materials. Previous observations of GBs have been performed by various tools including high resolution transmission electron microscopy. However, a method to easily identify GBs, especially in the case of low-angle GBs, has not yet been well established. In this paper, we choose graphene bilayers with a GB as a model system and investigate the effects of interlayer rotations to the identification of GBs. We provide a critical condition between adjacent moiré fringe spacings, which determines the possibility of GB recognition. In addition, for monolayer graphene with a grain boundary, we demonstrate that low-angle GBs can be distinguished easily by inducing moiré patterns deliberately with an artificial reference overlay. PMID:26216628

A low-cost approach for three-dimensional (3-D) full-field displacement measurement is applied for the analysis of large displacements involved in two different mechanical events. The method is based on a combination of fringeprojection and two-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. The two techniques have been employed simultaneously using an RGB camera and a color encoding method; therefore, it is possible to measure in-plane and out-of-plane displacements at the same time with only one camera even at high speed rates. The potential of the proposed methodology has been employed for the analysis of large displacements during contact experiments in a soft material block. Displacement results have been successfully compared with those obtained using a 3D-DIC commercial system. Moreover, the analysis of displacements during an impact test on a metal plate was performed to emphasize the application of the methodology for dynamics events. Results show a good level of agreement, highlighting the potential of FP + 2D DIC as low-cost alternative for the analysis of large deformations problems.

Fringe tracking is one of the most straightforward techniques for analyzing a single fringepattern. This work presents a principal-vector-directed fringe-tracking technique. It uses Gaussian derivatives for estimating fringe gradients and uses hysteresis thresholding for segmenting singular points, thus improving the principal component analysis method. Using it allows us to estimate the principal vectors of fringes from a pattern with high noise. The fringe-tracking procedure is directed by these principal vectors, so that erroneous results induced by noise and other error-inducing factors are avoided. At the same time, the singular point regions of the fringepattern are identified automatically. Using them allows us to determine paths through which the "seed" point for each fringe skeleton is easy to find, thus alleviating the computational burden in processing the fringepattern. The results of a numerical simulation and experiment demonstrate this method to be valid.

A novel phase-analysis method is proposed. To get the fringe order of a fringe image, the amplitude-modulation fringepattern is carried out, which is combined with the phase-shift method. The primary phase value is obtained by a phase-shift algorithm, and the fringe-order information is encoded in the amplitude-modulation fringepattern. Different from other methods, the amplitude-modulation fringe identifies the fringe order by the amplitude of the fringepattern. In an amplitude-modulation fringepattern, each fringe has its own amplitude; thus, the order information is integrated in one fringepattern, and the absolute fringe phase can be calculated correctly and quickly with the amplitude-modulation fringe image. The detailed algorithm is given, and the error analysis of this method is also discussed. Experimental results are presented by a full-field shape measurement system where the data has been processed using the proposed algorithm. (c) 2010 Optical Society of America.

Fringepatterns produced by various optical interferometric techniques encode information such as shape, deformation, and refractive index. Denoising and demodulation are two important procedures to retrieve information from a single closed fringepattern. Various existing denoising and demodulation techniques require fringe direction/orientation during the processing. Fringe orientation is often easier to obtain but fringe direction is needed in some demodulation techniques. A quality-guided orientation unwrapping scheme is proposed to estimate direction from orientation. Two techniques, one based on windowed Fourier ridges and the other based on fringe gradient, are proposed for the quality-guided orientation unwrapping scheme. The direction qualities are compared for both simulated and experimental fringepatterns. Their application to demodulation technique is also given.

Phase-based fringeprojection methods have been commonly used for three-dimensional (3D) measurements. However, image saturation results in incorrect intensities in captured fringepattern images, leading to phase and measurement errors. Existing solutions are complex. This paper proposes an adaptive projection intensity adjustment method to avoid image saturation and maintain good fringe modulation in measuring objects with a high range of surface reflectivities. The adapted fringepatterns are created using only one prior step of fringe-patternprojection and image capture. First, a set of phase-shifted fringepatterns with maximum projection intensity value of 255 and a uniform gray level pattern are projected onto the surface of an object. The patterns are reflected from and deformed by the object surface and captured by a digital camera. The best projection intensities corresponding to each saturated-pixel clusters are determined by fitting a polynomial function to transform captured intensities to projected intensities. Subsequently, the adapted fringepatterns are constructed using the best projection intensities at projector pixel coordinate. Finally, the adapted fringepatterns are projected for phase recovery and 3D shape calculation. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves high measurement accuracy even for objects with a high range of surface reflectivities.

Inspired by the Talbot effect, a grating projection system was designed. Periodic patterns were produced from a projection of a diffraction grating illuminated by a spherical wave of monochromatic coherent light. The diffracted light was collimated by a lens, the focal distance of which was at the centre of the incident spherical wave. Experiments demonstrated that the diffracted orders were also spherical waves centred on the same transverse plane as the incident light. The periodic illumination observed at different locations along the optic axis was proven to be the result of interference between the diffracted orders. It was demonstrated that this system could be used to measure velocities up to 20 m s -1 of particles crossing the fringes at distances up to 3 m

Interferometry provides a high degree of accuracy in the measurement of sub-micrometer deformations; however, the noise associated with experimental measurement undermines the integrity of interference fringes. This study proposes the use of standard deviation in the temporal domain to improve the image quality of patterns obtained from temporal speckle pattern interferometry. The proposed method combines the advantages of both mean and subtractive methods to remove background noise and ambient disturbance simultaneously, resulting in high-resolution images of excellent quality. The out-of-plane vibration of a thin piezoelectric plate is the main focus of this study, providing information useful to the development of energy harvesters. First, ten resonant states were measured using the proposed method, and both mode shape and resonant frequency were investigated. We then rebuilt the phase distribution of the first resonant mode based on the clear interference patterns obtained using the proposed method. This revealed instantaneous deformations in the dynamic characteristics of the resonant state. The proposed method also provides a frequency-sweeping function, facilitating its practical application in the precise measurement of resonant frequency. In addition, the mode shapes and resonant frequencies obtained using the proposed method were recorded and compared with results obtained using finite element method and laser Doppler vibrometery, which demonstrated close agreement.

Seabed topography is ubiquitous across basin-floor environments, and influences sediment gravity flows and sediment dispersal patterns. The impact of steep (several degrees) confining slopes on sedimentary facies and depositional architecture has been widely documented. However, the influence of

Malaria parasite and its vectors were found to be common during transmission periods in the highland fringes of Butajira. Thus, health education about the risk of malaria and its control programme in the area must be given adequate attention to minimize potential epidemics. In addition, the current study should be complemented from sero-epidemiological, prospective longitudinal and retrospective studies along with metrological and ecological factors, and socio-demographic data before concluding in favour of highland malaria transmission in the area. In light of its abundance, which coincided with the malaria transmission seasons, the possible role of An. christyi as a secondary vector in the highlands must be further investigated by including blood meal sources detection.

We present an analytical method for evaluating the first and second moments of the effective exciton spatial distribution in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) from measured emission patterns. Specifically, the suggested algorithm estimates the emission zone mean position and width, respectively, from two distinct features of the pattern produced by interference between the emission sources and their images (induced by the reflective cathode): the angles in which interference extrema are observed, and the prominence of interference fringes. The relations between these parameters are derived rigorously for a general OLED structure, indicating that extrema angles are related to the mean position of the radiating excitons via Bragg's condition, and the spatial broadening is related to the attenuation of the image-source interference prominence due to an averaging effect. The method is applied successfully both on simulated emission patterns and on experimental data, exhibiting a very good agreement with the results obtained by numerical techniques. We investigate the method performance in detail, showing that it is capable of producing accurate estimations for a wide range of source-cathode separation distances, provided that the measured spectral interval is large enough; guidelines for achieving reliable evaluations are deduced from these results as well. As opposed to numerical fitting tools employed to perform similar tasks to date, our approximate method explicitly utilizes physical intuition and requires far less computational effort (no fitting is involved). Hence, applications that do not require highly resolved estimations, e.g., preliminary design and production-line verification, can benefit substantially from the analytical algorithm, when applicable. This introduces a novel set of efficient tools for OLED engineering, highly important in the view of the crucial role the exciton distribution plays in determining the device performance.

We present an analytical method for evaluating the first and second moments of the effective exciton spatial distribution in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) from measured emission patterns. Specifically, the suggested algorithm estimates the emission zone mean position and width, respectively, from two distinct features of the pattern produced by interference between the emission sources and their images (induced by the reflective cathode): the angles in which interference extrema are observed, and the prominence of interference fringes. The relations between these parameters are derived rigorously for a general OLED structure, indicating that extrema angles are related to the mean position of the radiating excitons via Bragg's condition, and the spatial broadening is related to the attenuation of the image-source interference prominence due to an averaging effect. The method is applied successfully both on simulated emission patterns and on experimental data, exhibiting a very good agreement with the results obtained by numerical techniques. We investigate the method performance in detail, showing that it is capable of producing accurate estimations for a wide range of source-cathode separation distances, provided that the measured spectral interval is large enough; guidelines for achieving reliable evaluations are deduced from these results as well. As opposed to numerical fitting tools employed to perform similar tasks to date, our approximate method explicitly utilizes physical intuition and requires far less computational effort (no fitting is involved). Hence, applications that do not require highly resolved estimations, e.g., preliminary design and production-line verification, can benefit substantially from the analytical algorithm, when applicable. This introduces a novel set of efficient tools for OLED engineering, highly important in the view of the crucial role the exciton distribution plays in determining the device performance.

Full Text Available An accelerated spatial redundancy-based novel-look-up-table (A-SR-NLUT method based on a new concept of the N-point one-dimensional sub-principal fringepattern (N-point1-D sub-PFP is implemented on a graphics processing unit (GPU for fast calculation of computer-generated holograms (CGHs of three-dimensional (3-Dobjects. Since the proposed method can generate the N-point two-dimensional (2-D PFPs for CGH calculation from the pre-stored N-point 1-D PFPs, the loading time of the N-point PFPs on the GPU can be dramatically reduced, which results in a great increase of the computational speed of the proposed method. Experimental results confirm that the average calculation time for one-object point has been reduced by 49.6% and 55.4% compared to those of the conventional 2-D SR-NLUT methods for each case of the 2-point and 3-point SR maps, respectively.

Seabed topography is ubiquitous across basin-floor environments, and influences sediment gravity flows and sediment dispersal patterns. The impact of steep (several degrees) confining slopes on sedimentary facies and depositional architecture has been widely documented. However, the influence of gentle (fraction of a degree) confining slopes is less well-documented, largely due to outcrop limitations. Here, exceptional outcrop and research borehole data from Unit A of the Permian Laingsburg F...

In the present work is proposed that dynamic moire-like fringepatterns produced by photorefraction, with low spatial frequencies, could be used for profile determination of small objects. The Fourier transform profilometry technique is applied in the projected moire fringepattern onto an object surface. Basically, the Fourier transform of the projectedfringes is obtained. After that, a phase map is generated. Then, the optical profile of object is obtained using phase unwrapping. So, the entire process can be indicated to measure, with good accuracy degree, profile of small objects in sub-micrometer scale in optical mechanical systems.

The rural population of Himalaya has been strongly dependent on the forest resources for their livelihood for generations. The present study, carried out at three different altitudes of Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS), explored forest resource-use patterns to understand rural peoples' dependency on the adjacent forests. A total of six forests were selected and the seven dependent villages were surveyed for the study of forest resource use patterns in relation to their socioeconomic status. Average fuelwood and fodder consumption were found to be 2.42 kg/capita/day and 43.96 kg/household/day respectively which was higher than the earlier reported values. Average fuelwood consumption by temporary dhaba (roadside refreshment establishments) owners (52.5 kg/dhaba/day) is much higher than the permanent villagers. Average cultivated land per family was less than 1 ha (0.56 ha). Inaccessibility of the area and deprived socio-economic status of the locals are largely responsible for the total dependency of the local inhabitants on nearby forests for fuelwood, fodder and other life supporting demands. Extensive farming of fuelwood trees on less used, barren land and establishment of fodder banks could be the alternative to bridge the gap between the demand and supply. Active participation of local people is mandatory for the conservation of these forests. - Highlights: • We studied energy consumption at different altitudes in Western Himalaya of India. • On an average, fuelwood and fodder consumption is 2.42 kg/capita/day and 43.96 kg/household/day respectively. • Maximum fuelwood (3.24 kg/capita/day) at higher and fodder consumption (1800 kg/household/day) at middle altitudes was recorded. • Dhabas (roadside refreshment establishments) consume much more fuelwood as compared to the permanent villagers (P<0.000, t-test). • Fuelwood consumption showed significant negative relationship with LPG (−0.87) and kerosene oil (−0.89)

The crystal structure o silicon has been examined by means of X-ray diffraction according to the Pendellosung method. Measurements of the fringepattern were made for the 111, 220, 113, 004, 331, 224 and 333 diffractions in a temperature range 17-300 K. It is found that the value of the Debye temperature determined from the temperature dependence of the period of Pendellosung fringes is in good agreement with that in the literature except for the first three diffractions; for these with shorter scattering vectors, the value depends on specimen and, in some cases, is smaller than that in the literature and depends on the length of the scattering vector. It is also found that the fringepattern is stress sensitive, and that the stress can be released at lowest temperatures. This phenomenon of a kind of aging is discussed in connection with a similar effect observed in the high-resolution measurement of the lattice spacing

A variety of patternprojection methods for the three-dimensional capture of objects is based on the generation of purely sinusoidal fringes. This is not an easy task, especially when a portable non-interferometric system for outdoor usage is required. The use of phase gratings with coherent illumination as a possible solution has the advantage of providing good stability and a large measurement volume. In this work, we analyze the quality of fringesprojected with two sinusoidal phase gratings. The first grating is recorded on a silver-halide holographic plate by means of a Michelson interferometer. The spatial resolution of the silver-halide material used is greater than 6000 lines per millimeter, and the recorded grating is practically analogous to a smooth variation of the phase profile. The second grating is formed as a sinusoidal phase variation on a liquid crystal-on-silicon phase-only reflective display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels, a pixel pitch of 8 μm and 256 phase levels. The frequency content of the fringesprojected with both gratings is analyzed and compared on the basis of the calculated Fresnel diffraction pattern, taking into account that the sinusoidal phase distribution in the case of a spatial light modulator is both sampled and quantized. Experimental fringepatternsprojected using both gratings are also provided.

To achieve the goals of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope for Dark Energy science requires a detailed understanding of CCD sensor effects. One such sensor effect is the Point Spread Function (PSF) increasing with flux, alternatively called the `Brighter-Fatter Effect.' In this work a novel approach was tested to perform the PSF measurements in the context of the Brighter-Fatter Effect employing a Michelson interferometer to project a sinusoidal fringepattern onto the CCD. The Brighter-Fatter effect predicts that the fringepattern should become asymmetric in the intensity pattern as the brighter peaks corresponding to a larger flux are smeared by a larger PSF. By fitting the data with a model that allows for a changing PSF, the strength of the Brighter-Fatter effect can be evaluated.

The two key predictions of hedonic wage theory are that there is a trade-o¤ between wages and nonmonetary rewards and that the latter can be used as a sorting device by firms to attract and retain the kind of employees they desire. Empirical analysis of these topics are scarce as they require...... negative wage-fringe trade-offs, con-siderable heterogeneity in willingness to pay for fringe benefits, and signs of sorting. The findings imply that personnel economics models can be applied also to the analysis of nonmonetary rewards....

In phase measuring deflectometry, two orthogonal sinusoidal fringepatterns are separately projected on the test surface and the distorted fringes reflected by the surface are recorded, each with a sequential phase shift. Then the two components of the local surface gradients are obtained by triangulation. It usually involves some complicated and time-consuming procedures (fringeprojection in the orthogonal directions). In addition, the digital light devices (e.g. LCD screen and CCD camera) are not error free. There are quantization errors for each pixel of both LCD and CCD. Therefore, to avoid the complex process and improve the reliability of the phase distribution, a phase extraction algorithm with five-frame crossed fringes is presented in this paper. It is based on a least-squares iterative process. Using the proposed algorithm, phase distributions and phase shift amounts in two orthogonal directions can be simultaneously and successfully determined through an iterative procedure. Both a numerical simulation and a preliminary experiment are conducted to verify the validity and performance of this algorithm. Experimental results obtained by our method are shown, and comparisons between our experimental results and those obtained by the traditional 16-step phase-shifting algorithm and between our experimental results and those measured by the Fizeau interferometer are made.

We study the fringingpatterns observed in MonoCam, a camera with a single Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) CCD sensor. Images were taken at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona (NOFS) employing its 1.3 m telescope and an LSST y 4 filter. Fringing occurs due to the reflection of infrared light (700 nm or larger) from the bottom surface of the CCD which constructively or destructively interferes with the incident light to produce a net ''fringe'' pattern which is superimposed on all images taken. Emission lines from the atmosphere, dominated by hydroxyl (OH) spectra, can change in their relative intensities as the night goes on, producing different fringepatterns in the images taken. We found through several methods that the general shape of the fringepatterns remained constant, though with slight changes in the amplitude and phase of the fringes. We also found that a superposition of fringes from two monochromatic lines taken in the lab offered a reasonable description of the sky data.

dorsal cochlear nucleus, we concluded that the serotoninergic projectionpattern to the cochlear nucleus is divergent and non-specific. Double-labeled fiber segments were also present, but sparse, in the superior olive, localized mainly in periolivary regions; this indicated that the divergence of dorsal and median raphe neurons that extends throughout regions of the cochlear nucleus also extended well beyond the cochlear nucleus to include at least the superior olivary complex as well.

Quantitative phase information from a single interferogram can be obtained using the Hilbert transform (HT). We have applied the HT method for quantitative evaluation of Bessel fringes obtained in time average TV holography. The method requires only one fringepattern for the extraction of vibration amplitude and reduces the complexity in quantifying the data experienced in the time average reference bias modulation method, which uses multiple fringe frames. The technique is demonstrated for the measurement of out-of-plane vibration amplitude on a small scale specimen using a time average microscopic TV holography system.

Stress intensity factor is one of the most important parameters in fracture mechanics. Both the stress field distribution and the crack propagation are closely related to these parameters. Due to the complexity of actual engineering problems, it is difficult to calculate the stress intensity factor by theoretical formulation, so photoelasticity method is a good choice. In this paper, modified two parameter method is employed to calculate stress intensity factor for opening mode by using data from more than one photoelastic fringe loop. For getting accurate experiment results, the initial fringes are doubled and sharpened by digital image programs from the fringepatterns obtained by a CCD camera. Photoelastic results are compared with those obtained by the use of empirical equation and FEM. Good agreement shows that the methods utilized in experiments are considerably reliable. The photoelastic experiment can be used for bench mark in theoretical study and other experiments

We report a new technique for the demodulation of a closed fringepattern by representing the phase as a weighted linear combination of a certain number of linearly independent Fourier basis functions in a given row/column at a time. A state space model is developed with the weights of the basis functions as the elements of the state vector. The iterative extended Kalman filter is effectively utilized for the robust estimation of the weights. A coarse estimate of the fringe density based on the fringe frequency map is used to determine the initial row/column to start with and subsequently the optimal number of basis functions. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated with several noisy fringepatterns. Experimental results are also reported to support the practical applicability of the proposed method.

It has recently been shown that X-ray moire fringes are not exactly the projection of the intensity distribution of the wave field on the exit surface of the crystal, but do oscillate along the beam path behind the crystal. Such nonprojectiveness of moire fringes is inexplicable by the conventional understanding of moire fringes, and therefore is of interest from a fundamental viewpoint as well as practical one. In this paper the phenomena of the nonprojectiveness are described on the basis of the latest experimental data obtained by synchrotron radiation. (author)

We generalize the technique of fringe-rate filtering, whereby visibilities measured by a radio interferometer are re-weighted according to their temporal variation. As the Earth rotates, radio sources traverse through an interferometer’s fringepattern at rates that depend on their position on the sky. Capitalizing on this geometric interpretation of fringe rates, we employ time-domain convolution kernels to enact fringe-rate filters that sculpt the effective primary beam of antennas in an interferometer. As we show, beam sculpting through fringe-rate filtering can be used to optimize measurements for a variety of applications, including mapmaking, minimizing polarization leakage, suppressing instrumental systematics, and enhancing the sensitivity of power-spectrum measurements. We show that fringe-rate filtering arises naturally in minimum variance treatments of many of these problems, enabling optimal visibility-based approaches to analyses of interferometric data that avoid systematics potentially introduced by traditional approaches such as imaging. Our techniques have recently been demonstrated in Ali et al., where new upper limits were placed on the 21 {cm} power spectrum from reionization, showcasing the ability of fringe-rate filtering to successfully boost sensitivity and reduce the impact of systematics in deep observations.

... for participant wages and fringe benefits? 641.873 Section 641.873 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND... wages and fringe benefits? (a) Not less than 75 percent of the SCSEP funds provided under a grant from the Department must be used to pay for the wages and fringe benefits of participants in such projects...

The aim of this study is to compare the accuracy and reliability of spinal curvatures and vertebral rotation data based on patient-specific 3D models created by 3D imaging system or by bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré-Fringeprojections. Sixty-two consecutive patients from a single institution were prospectively included. For each patient, frontal and sagittal calibrated low-dose bi-planar X-rays were performed and coupled simultaneously with an optical Moiré back surface-based technology. The 3D reconstructions of spine and pelvis were performed independently by one radiologist and one technician in radiology using two different semi-automatic methods using 3D radio-imaging system (method 1) or bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré projections (method 2). Both methods were compared using Bland-Altman analysis, and reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). ICC showed good to very good agreement. Between the two techniques, the maximum 95 % prediction limits was -4.9° degrees for the measurements of spinal coronal curves and less than 5° for other parameters. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for all parameters across both methods, except for axial rotation with method 2 for which ICC was fair. Method 1 was faster for reconstruction time than method 2 for both readers (13.4 vs. 20.7 min and 10.6 vs. 13.9 min; p = 0.0001). While a lower accuracy was observed for the evaluation of the axial rotation, bi-planar imaging coupled with Moiré-Fringeprojections may be an accurate and reliable tool to perform 3D reconstructions of the spine and pelvis.

Tight regulation of Notch pathway signaling is important in many aspects of embryonic development. Notch signaling can be modulated by expression of fringe genes, encoding glycosyltransferases that modify EGF repeats in the Notch receptor. Although Lunatic fringe (Lfng) has been shown to play important roles in vertebrate segmentation, comparatively little is known regarding the developmental functions of the other vertebrate fringe genes, Radical fringe (Rfng) and Manic fringe (Mfng). Here we report that Mfng expression is not required for embryonic development. Further, we find that despite significant overlap in expression patterns, we detect no obvious synergistic defects in mice in the absence of two, or all three, fringe genes during development of the axial skeleton, limbs, hindbrain and cranial nerves. PMID:19479951

A new acoustic grating fringe projector (AGFP) was developed for high-speed and high-precision 3D measurement. A new acoustic grating fringeprojection theory is also proposed to describe the optical system. The AGFP instrument can adjust the spatial phase and period of fringes with unprecedented speed and accuracy. Using rf power proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control and CCD synchronous control, we obtain fringes with fine sinusoidal characteristics and realize high-speed acquisition of image data. Using the device, we obtained a precise phase map for a 3D profile. In addition, the AGFP can work in running fringe mode, which could be applied in other measurement fields

Microscopic 3-D shape measurement can supply accurate metrology of the delicacy and complexity of MEMS components of the final devices to ensure their proper performance. Fringeprojection profilometry (FPP) has the advantages of noncontactness and high accuracy, making it widely used in 3-D measurement. Recently, tremendous advance of electronics development promotes 3-D measurements to be more accurate and faster. However, research about real-time microscopic 3-D measurement is still rarely reported. In this work, we effectively combine optimized binary structured pattern with number-theoretical phase unwrapping algorithm to realize real-time 3-D shape measurement. A slight defocusing of our proposed binary patterns can considerably alleviate the measurement error based on phase-shifting FPP, making the binary patterns have the comparable performance with ideal sinusoidal patterns. Real-time 3-D measurement about 120 frames per second (FPS) is achieved, and experimental result of a vibrating earphone is presented.

Full Text Available This paper is a theoretical analysis of mirror tilt in a Michelson interferometer and its effect on the radiant flux over the active area of a rectangular photodetector or image sensor pixel. It is relevant to sensor applications using homodyne interferometry where these opto-electronic devices are employed for partial fringe counting. Formulas are derived for radiant flux across the detector for variable location within the fringepattern and with varying wave front angle. The results indicate that the flux is a damped sine function of the wave front angle, with a decay constant of the ratio of wavelength to detector width. The modulation amplitude of the dynamic fringepattern reduces to zero at wave front angles that are an integer multiple of this ratio and the results show that the polarity of the radiant flux changes exclusively at these multiples. Varying tilt angle causes radiant flux oscillations under an envelope curve, the frequency of which is dependent on the location of the detector with the fringepattern. It is also shown that a fringe count of zero can be obtained for specific photodetector locations and wave front angles where the combined effect of fringe contraction and fringe tilt can have equal and opposite effects. Fringe tilt as a result of a wave front angle of 0.05° can introduce a phase measurement difference of 16° between a photodetector/pixel located 20 mm and one located 100 mm from the optical origin.

The principal component analysis (PCA) and region matching combined method is effective for fringe direction estimation. However, its mask construction algorithm for region matching fails in some circumstances, and the algorithm for conversion of orientation to direction in mask areas is computationally-heavy and non-optimized. We propose an improved PCA based region matching method for the fringe direction estimation, which includes an improved and robust mask construction scheme, and a fast and optimized orientation-direction conversion algorithm for the mask areas. Along with the estimated fringe direction map, filtered fringepattern by automatic selective reconstruction modification and enhanced fast empirical mode decomposition (ASRm-EFEMD) is used for Hilbert spiral transform (HST) to demodulate the phase. Subsequently, windowed Fourier ridge (WFR) method is used for the refinement of the phase. The robustness and effectiveness of proposed method are demonstrated by both simulated and experimental fringepatterns.

...), which is based on fitting a model fringepattern to the NPOI data frames. The procedure is quite computationally intensive, but gives a better estimation of the phase than the conventional method of locating the peak of the group delay power...

Under rapid urban sprawl in Northeast China, land conversions are not only encroaching on the quantity of cultivated lands, but also posing a great threat to black soil conservation and food security. This study's aim is to explore the spatial relationship between comprehensive cultivated soil heavy metal pollution and peri-urban land use patterns in the black soil region. We applied spatial lag regression to analyze the relationship between PLI (pollution load index) and influencing factors of land use by taking suburban cultivated land of Changchun Kuancheng District as an empirical case. The results indicate the following: (1) Similar spatial distribution characteristics are detected between Pb, Cu, and Zn, between Cr and Ni, and between Hg and Cd. The Yitong River catchment in the central region, and the residential community of Lanjia County in the west, are the main hotspots for eight heavy metals and PLI. Beihu Wetland Park, with a larger-area distribution of ecological land in the southeast, has low level for both heavy metal concentrations and PLI values. Spatial distribution characteristics of cultivated heavy metals are related to types of surrounding land use and industry; (2) Spatial lag regression has a better fit for PLI than the ordinary least squares regression. The regression results indicate the inverse relationship between heavy metal pollution degree and distance from long-standing residential land and surface water. Following rapid urban land expansion and a longer accumulation period, residential land sprawl is going to threaten cultivated land with heavy metal pollution in the suburban black soil region, and cultivated land irrigated with urban river water in the suburbs will have a higher tendency for heavy metal pollution.

Under rapid urban sprawl in Northeast China, land conversions are not only encroaching on the quantity of cultivated lands, but also posing a great threat to black soil conservation and food security. This study’s aim is to explore the spatial relationship between comprehensive cultivated soil heavy metal pollution and peri-urban land use patterns in the black soil region. We applied spatial lag regression to analyze the relationship between PLI (pollution load index) and influencing factors of land use by taking suburban cultivated land of Changchun Kuancheng District as an empirical case. The results indicate the following: (1) Similar spatial distribution characteristics are detected between Pb, Cu, and Zn, between Cr and Ni, and between Hg and Cd. The Yitong River catchment in the central region, and the residential community of Lanjia County in the west, are the main hotspots for eight heavy metals and PLI. Beihu Wetland Park, with a larger-area distribution of ecological land in the southeast, has low level for both heavy metal concentrations and PLI values. Spatial distribution characteristics of cultivated heavy metals are related to types of surrounding land use and industry; (2) Spatial lag regression has a better fit for PLI than the ordinary least squares regression. The regression results indicate the inverse relationship between heavy metal pollution degree and distance from long-standing residential land and surface water. Following rapid urban land expansion and a longer accumulation period, residential land sprawl is going to threaten cultivated land with heavy metal pollution in the suburban black soil region, and cultivated land irrigated with urban river water in the suburbs will have a higher tendency for heavy metal pollution. PMID:28327541

Fringing-field effects in acceleration columns are investigated, based on the fringing-field integral method. Transfer matrices at the effective boundaries of the acceleration column are obtained, as well as the general transfer matrix of the region separating two homogeneous electrostatic fields with different field strengths. The accuracy of the fringing-field integral method is investigated

Observations in a mangrove in the Whangapoua Harbour, New Zealand, have shown that deposition rates are greatest in the fringing zone between the tidal flats and the mangrove forest, where the vegetation is dominated by a cover of pneumatophores (i.e. pencil roots). Current speeds and suspended

The Mohave Power Project (MPP) is an isolated 1580-MW coal-fired electric generating plant located in Laughlin, NV. Laughlin is a small desert gambling town situated in the lower Colorado River Valley near the junction of three states: Nevada, California, and Arizona. The location of the MPP is approximately 155 km southwest of the western end of the Grand Canyon National Park and about 240 km southwest from the Grand Canyon Village. This paper describes the summer transport patterns of the MPP emittants using illustrated examples from the Project MOHAVE (measurements of Haze and Visual Effects) 1992 summer intensive study. The intensive study lasted 50 days from mid-July through August and encompassed the major meteorological patterns associated with southwestern US summer meteorology. The MPP emittants were transported towards the Grand Canyon (north to the northeast) during more than 80% of the total hours. Airflow as from the south most of the time due to a combination of the semi-permanent thermal low, differential heating between the Gulf of California and lower Colorado River Valley, and upslope heating of the southern and western slopes of the nearby Colorado Plateau. 14 refs., 12 figs., 2 tabs.

In this study, theoretical analysis and experimental verification of fringe multiplication under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) are presented. Fringe multiplication can be realized by enhancing the magnification or the number of scanning lines under the SEM. A universal expression of the pitch of moiré fringes is deduced. To apply this method to deformation measurement, the calculation formulas of strain and displacement are derived. Compared to natural moiré, the displacement sensitivity is increased by fringe multiplication while the strain sensitivity may be retained or enhanced depending on the number of scanning lines used. The moiré patterns are formed by the interference of a 2000 lines mm −1 grating with the scanning lines of SEM, and the measured parameters of moiré fringes from experimental results agree well with theoretical analysis

An automatic interferometer fringe tracking system has been developed, implemented, and tested at the Infrared Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) Observatory at Mount Hopkins, Arizona. The system can minimize the optical path differences (OPDs) for all three baselines of the Michelson stellar interferometer at IOTA. Based on sliding window discrete Fourier-transform (DFT) calculations that were optimized for computational efficiency and robustness to atmospheric disturbances, the algorithm has also been tested extensively on offline data. Implemented in ANSI C on the 266 MHz PowerPC processor running the VxWorks real-time operating system, the algorithm runs in approximately [InlineEquation not available: see fulltext.] milliseconds per scan (including all three interferograms), using the science camera and piezo scanners to measure and correct the OPDs. The adaptive DFT-based tracking algorithm should be applicable to other systems where there is a need to detect or track a signal with an approximately constant-frequency carrier pulse. One example of such an application might be to the field of thin-film measurement by ellipsometry, using a broadband light source and a Fourier-transform spectrometer to detect the resulting fringepatterns.

Full Text Available An automatic interferometer fringe tracking system has been developed, implemented, and tested at the Infrared Optical Telescope Array (IOTA Observatory at Mount Hopkins, Arizona. The system can minimize the optical path differences (OPDs for all three baselines of the Michelson stellar interferometer at IOTA. Based on sliding window discrete Fourier-transform (DFT calculations that were optimized for computational efficiency and robustness to atmospheric disturbances, the algorithm has also been tested extensively on offline data. Implemented in ANSI C on the 266 MHz PowerPC processor running the VxWorks real-time operating system, the algorithm runs in approximately 2.0 milliseconds per scan (including all three interferograms, using the science camera and piezo scanners to measure and correct the OPDs. The adaptive DFT-based tracking algorithm should be applicable to other systems where there is a need to detect or track a signal with an approximately constant-frequency carrier pulse. One example of such an application might be to the field of thin-film measurement by ellipsometry, using a broadband light source and a Fourier-transform spectrometer to detect the resulting fringepatterns.

Dispersed Fringe Sensing (DFS) is a technique for measuring and phasing segmented telescope mirrors using a dispersed broadband light image. DFS is capable of breaking the monochromatic light ambiguity, measuring absolute piston errors between segments of large segmented primary mirrors to tens of nanometers accuracy over a range of 100 micrometers or more. The DFSA software tool analyzes DFS images to extract DFS encoded segment piston errors, which can be used to measure piston distances between primary mirror segments of ground and space telescopes. This information is necessary to control mirror segments to establish a smooth, continuous primary figure needed to achieve high optical quality. The DFSA tool is versatile, allowing precise piston measurements from a variety of different optical configurations. DFSA technology may be used for measuring wavefront pistons from sub-apertures defined by adjacent segments (such as Keck Telescope), or from separated sub-apertures used for testing large optical systems (such as sub-aperture wavefront testing for large primary mirrors using auto-collimating flats). An experimental demonstration of the coarse-phasing technology with verification of DFSA was performed at the Keck Telescope. DFSA includes image processing, wavelength and source spectral calibration, fringe extraction line determination, dispersed fringe analysis, and wavefront piston sign determination. The code is robust against internal optical system aberrations and against spectral variations of the source. In addition to the DFSA tool, the software package contains a simple but sophisticated MATLAB model to generate dispersed fringe images of optical system configurations in order to quickly estimate the coarse phasing performance given the optical and operational design requirements. Combining MATLAB (a high-level language and interactive environment developed by MathWorks), MACOS (JPL s software package for Modeling and Analysis for Controlled Optical

Fringe-based optical measurement techniques require reliable fringe analysis methods, where empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is an outstanding one due to its ability of analyzing complex signals and the merit of being data-driven. However, two challenging issues hinder the application of EMD in practical measurement. One is the tricky mode mixing problem (MMP), making the decomposed intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) have equivocal physical meaning; the other is the automatic and accurate extraction of the sinusoidal fringe from the IMFs when unpredictable and unavoidable background and noise exist in real measurements. Accordingly, in this paper, a novel bidimensional sinusoids-assisted EMD (BSEMD) is proposed to decompose a fringepattern into mono-component bidimensional IMFs (BIMFs), with the MMP solved; properties of the resulted BIMFs are then analyzed to recognize and enhance the useful fringe component. The decomposition and the fringe recognition are integrated and the latter provides a feedback to the former, helping to automatically stop the decomposition to make the algorithm simpler and more reliable. A series of experiments show that the proposed method is accurate, efficient and robust to various fringepatterns even with poor quality, rendering it a potential tool for practical use.

Stephen J Pyne For the past two decades fire agencies have grappled with a seemingly new and intractable problem. Like the return of smallpox or polio, an issue they thought had vanished reappeared in virulent form. Year by year, the unthinkable became the undeniable: all across many industrial nations settlements began to burn. The earliest formal study followed the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires that swept through southeastern Australia [1]. That report remains definitive: nearly every subsequent inquiry has reaffirmed its conclusions about how houses actually burn and what remedial measures could counter the destruction [2, 3]. In many respects these insights simply adapted to nominal `wildlands' the lessons long learned for urban fire protection. Ban combustible roofing. Plug openings where embers might enter buildings. Establish defensible spaces. Provide firefighters. The larger concern was that wild landscapes and cityscapes were being intermixed in dangerous and unprecedented ways, like some kind of environmental matter and anti-matter. That mingling assumed two different forms. One was typical of developed nations with extensive wildlands in which suburban (or exurban) sprawl pushed against reserved landscapes. In 1987 researchers with the US Forest Service coined a name for this variant, the awkwardly labeled `wildland/urban interface' (WUI) or I-zone [4]. The second pattern found its best expression in Mediterranean Europe. Here agricultural lands were being abandoned, and then partially reclaimed by exurbanites [5]. The upshot for both was an explosion of fuels, houses (and communities) not built according to standard fire codes, and the absence of formal fire brigades [6]. The solution seemed obvious: install standard fire protection measures. More broadly, remove the houses or remove the wildlands. The apparitional fires would vanish as had urban conflagrations before them. In effect, define the problem as one that existing engineering, or techniques

Being an unavoidable part in a real magnet design, fringe fields of different kind of magnets have various effects on the beam parameters of the storage ring. The fringe field of a bending magnet (dipole) generates closed orbit distortion and disturbs the dispersion function whereas the fringe field of a quadrupole affects other parameters of the ring like tune values and twiss functions. The fringe field pattern of the quadrupoles of Indus-2 was measured by the Magnet Group. The measurements were performed along the various radial tracks in a quadrupole from -30 to 30 mm in steps of 5 mm at various excitation current levels. The pattern of the gradient at these different current levels was obtained by a line fit of the magnetic field at each point. The data was used to get the effect on the tune of Indus-2. The paper describes the results of the effect on the tune. (author)

The HL-LHC Upgrade project relies on large aperture magnets (mainly the inner Triplet and the separation dipole D1). The beam is much more sensitive to non-linear perturbations in this region, such as those induced by the fringe fields of the low-beta quadrupoles. Different tracking models are compared in order to provide a numerical estimate of the impact of fringe fields for the actual design of the inner triplet quadrupoles. The implementation of the fringe fields in SixTrack, to be used for dynamic apertures studies, is also discussed.

This study represents up-to-date information on the current status of and future projections for the pediatric otolaryngology workforce. To provide an update on the practice patterns of and projections for the US pediatric otolaryngology workforce. An online survey was sent to all 172 members of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and fielded from May 29, 2014, to September 17, 2014. Current status of and perceived trends in the pediatric otolaryngology workforce. Eighty-four (48.8%) of the 172 members responded to the survey. Not all respondents answered all questions, and so totals and percentages might not reflect a total of 84 for any given response. The demographics and practice characteristics of the responding pediatric otolaryngologists were similar to those noted in a 1997 workforce survey. Fifty-four percent of respondents (n = 38) planned to continue full-time work over the next 5 years, and 47% (n = 31) believed that the number of patients in their practice was increasing. The proportion of those who believed that the need for pediatric otolaryngologists in their community was increasing (31%; n = 21) or decreasing (13%; n = 9) remained relatively constant from the 1997 survey (34% and 12%, respectively). Forty-nine percent (n = 35) reported believing that the number of pediatric otolaryngologists being trained was appropriate and that the need in their community was stable. Eighty-three percent (n = 55) reported believing that employment opportunities for pediatric otolaryngologists in the United States would be plentiful in the near future. The overall state of the pediatric otolaryngology workforce appears stable. The perceived current and future needs for pediatric otolaryngologists appear to be met by the current number of trainees. Employment opportunities appear promising for future pediatric otolaryngologists based on our respondents' opinions. This represents up

Full Text Available Will Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems be affected by the expected changes in precipitation regimes? If so, by how much and in which direction? These questions are at the basis of the research performed in context of the EU MIND project, whose key objectives were: i to investigate the potential effects of increasing drought on Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems at the process, ecosystem and regional scales and ii to assess ecosystem vulnerability to changes in rainfall patterns. A network of experimental study sites has been created in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, where field manipulations alter the amount of water available to the ecosystem. The most up-to-date methods of ecophysiology, micrometeorology, soil ecology and remote sensing have been used to elucidate the mechanisms that regulate the response of vegetation and soil to changes in water availability. This information is providing the basis for the implementation and validation of simulation models capable of predicting the drought response of Mediterranean terrestrial ecosystems, and their vulnerability to future climate change, on a larger scale. The out-coming results are elucidating how water availability affects plant ecophysiological processes, the dynamics of soil carbon and the overall exchange of mass and energy between the land and the atmosphere. This paper focuses on some of the important, yet preliminary, results on C and energy fluxes that have been obtained at the large scale troughfall manipulation experiment (Tolfa, Italy, in a forest dominated by Arbutus unedo L.

A regularized phase tracker (RPT) is an effective method for demodulation of single closed-fringepatterns. However, lengthy calculation time, specially designed scanning strategy, and sign-ambiguity problems caused by noise and saddle points reduce its effectiveness, especially for demodulating large and complex fringepatterns. In this paper, a simplified paraboloid phase model-based regularized phase tracker (SPRPT) is proposed. In SPRPT, first and second phase derivatives are pre-determined by the density-direction-combined method and discrete higher-order demodulation algorithm, respectively. Hence, cost function is effectively simplified to reduce the computation time significantly. Moreover, pre-determined phase derivatives improve the robustness of the demodulation of closed, complex fringepatterns. Thus, no specifically designed scanning strategy is needed; nevertheless, it is robust against the sign-ambiguity problem. The paraboloid phase model also assures better accuracy and robustness against noise. Both the simulated and experimental fringepatterns (obtained using electronic speckle pattern interferometry) are used to validate the proposed method, and a comparison of the proposed method with existing RPT methods is carried out. The simulation results show that the proposed method has achieved the highest accuracy with less computational time. The experimental result proves the robustness and the accuracy of the proposed method for demodulation of noisy fringepatterns and its feasibility for static and dynamic applications.

Background: An analysis of dietary patterns or combinations of foods may provide insight regarding the influence of diet on the risk of colon and rectal cancer. Objective: A primary aim of the Dietary Patterns and Cancer (DIETSCAN) Project was to develop and apply a common methodologic approach to

... Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION THE EQUAL PAY ACT § 1620.11 Fringe... unlawful for an employer to discriminate between men and women performing equal work with regard to fringe... spouses or families of employees of one gender where the same benefits are not made available for the...

The fringing field of a dipole magnet with a C-type circuit and homogeneous field in the gap has been measured including the distributions of fringing fields with and without magnetic shield. The measured data was analyzed by using the concept of virtual field boundary

The orientation dependence of thin-crystal lattice fringes can be gracefully quantified using fringe-visibility maps, a direct-space analog of Kikuchi maps [Nishikawa and Kikuchi, Nature (London) 121, 1019 (1928)]. As in navigation of reciprocal space with the aid of Kikuchi lines, fringe-visibility maps facilitate acquisition of crystallographic information from lattice images. In particular, these maps can help researchers to determine the three-dimensional lattice of individual nanocrystals, to 'fringe-fingerprint' collections of randomly oriented particles, and to measure local specimen thickness with only a modest tilt. Since the number of fringes in an image increases with maximum spatial-frequency squared, these strategies (with help from more precise goniometers) will be more useful as aberration correction moves resolutions into the subangstrom range

In X-ray Talbot interferometry, tilting the phase grating with respect to the absorption grating results in the formation of spatial fringes. The analysis of this moiré pattern, classically performed by the Fourier method, allows the extraction of the sample phase shift information from a single image. In this context, an extension to the Fourier method is proposed. The filter used to extract the fringe information is chosen optimally in the least-squares sense, given models for the zeroth and first order modes, noise and the modulation transfer function. The latter is obtained by measuring the detector response to moiré fringes with increasing frequencies. The obtained Wiener filter allows a better reconstruction of the phase information at all fringe frequencies, compared to the usual box or gaussian filters. This is demonstrated quantitatively by experiments using synchrotron radiation.

Electro-Optic Holography (EOH) is a non-intrusive, laser-based, displacement measurement technique capable of static and dynamic displacement measurements. EOH is an optical interference technique in which fringepatterns that represent displacement contour maps are generated. At excessively large displacements the fringe density may be so great that individual fringes are not resolvable using typical EOH techniques. This thesis focuses on the development and implementation of a method for controlling the sensitivity of the EOH system. This method is known as Frequency Translated Electro-Optic Holography (FTEOH). It was determined that by modulating the current source of the laser diode at integer multiples of the object vibration, the fringepattern is governed by higher order Bessel function of the first kind and the number of fringes that represent a given displacement can be controlled. The reduction of fringes is theoretically unlimited but physically limited by the frequency bandwidth of the signal generator, providing modulation to the laser diode. Although this research technique has been verified theoretically and experimentally in this thesis, due to the current laser diode capabilities it is a tedious and time consuming process to acquire data using the FTEOH technique.

At present, nearly 30,000 powder diffraction patterns are available as references. It is proposed that the patterns in this file as well as new patterns submitted for publication be given quantitative quality factors. A simple-to-use figure of merit, F/sub N/, covering both accuracy of d-values and completeness of a pattern was derived. This figure of merit provides the user with a means of rapid evaluation of powder patterns in much the same way that the R-factor does for single-crystal structure determinations. The present F/sub N/ ranking scheme is shown to be superior to de Wolff's M 20 ranking scheme. It is recommended that the latter be discontinued. Guidelines are given on the use and implementation of F/sub N/ rating of powder diffraction patterns

This article describes an approach whereby patterns are used to describe management issues and solutions to be used during the project management of team-based software development. The work describes how web 2.0 technologies have been employed to support the use and development of such patterns. To evaluate the success of patterns and the…

In this paper, we study various fringe field effects. Previously, we showed the large impact that fringe fields can have on certain lattice scenarios of the proposed Neutrino Factory. Besides the linear design of the lattice, the effects depend strongly on the details of the field fall off. Various scenarios are compared. Furthermore, in the absence of detailed information, we study the effects for the LHC, a case where the fringe fields are known, and try to draw some conclusions for Neutrino Factory lattices

A mathematical formula of calculating the fringe periods of the color moirés appearing at the contact-type 3-D displays is derived. It is typical that the color moirés are chirped and the period of the line pattern in viewing zone forming optics is more than two times of that of the pixel pattern in the display panel. These make impossible to calculate the fringe periods of the color moirés with the conventional beat frequency formula. The derived formula work very well for any combination of two line patterns having either a same line period or different line periods. This is experimentally proved. Furthermore, it is also shown that the fringe period can be expressed in terms of the viewing distance and focal length of the viewing zone forming optics.

Soft elastic layers with top and bottom surfaces adhered to rigid bodies are abundant in biological organisms and engineering applications. As the rigid bodies are pulled apart, the stressed layer can exhibit various modes of mechanical instabilities. In cases where the layer's thickness is much smaller than its length and width, the dominant modes that have been studied are the cavitation, interfacial and fingering instabilities. Here we report a new mode of instability which emerges if the thickness of the constrained elastic layer is comparable to or smaller than its width. In this case, the middle portion along the layer's thickness elongates nearly uniformly while the constrained fringe portions of the layer deform nonuniformly. When the applied stretch reaches a critical value, the exposed free surfaces of the fringe portions begin to undulate periodically without debonding from the rigid bodies, giving the fringe instability. We use experiments, theory and numerical simulations to quantitatively explain the fringe instability and derive scaling laws for its critical stress, critical strain and wavelength. We show that in a force controlled setting the elastic fingering instability is associated with a snap-through buckling that does not exist for the fringe instability. The discovery of the fringe instability will not only advance the understanding of mechanical instabilities in soft materials but also have implications for biological and engineered adhesives and joints.

Full Text Available Pudakpayung Sub District is the southest in Banyumanik District of Semarang City. This area is a Urban Fringe Area with high population growth and development area for human settlement. But not supported by good facilities and infrastructure. This research is aiming to see the availability and quality of facilities and infrastructure in this urban fringe area. So, this research can give the recommendation about availability and quality of facilities and infrastructure, especially in urban fringe area. This research will identify changes the pattern of human settlement and then identify the availability, quality, and distribution of neighborhoods facilities and infrastructure. The research method used in this research is quantitative descriptive method. The analysis uses the quantitative descriptive analysis with the provisions of SNI 03-1733-2004, scoring with a Likert scale, and spatial mapping. The result of this research indicate changes the pattern of land up and indicate the availability, quality, and distribution of every facilities and infrastructure.

To develop a method for projecting the impact of ageing and changing drug utilization patterns on future drug expenditure.......To develop a method for projecting the impact of ageing and changing drug utilization patterns on future drug expenditure....

Detection thresholds were measured for interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs) that were carried by probe segments embedded in otherwise diotic broadband noise (fringe). The duration of the probe was varied between 5 and 200 ms, and the duration of the fringe...... was between 5 and 100 ms. Consistent with results of Akeroyd and Bernstein [(2001). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110, 2516-2526], it was found that a 5-ms fringe placed before a 5-ms probe (forward fringe) led to a larger threshold elevation than a 5-ms fringe placed after the probe (backward fringe). As suggested...... by Akeroyd and Bernstein, this effect was accounted for by a model providing an onset emphasis of a factor of 2. In contrast, for longer probe and fringe durations, which have not been tested before, a backward fringe had a stronger effect than a forward fringe. This surprising effect was accounted...

Transverse particle motion in particle accelerators is governed almost totally by non-solenoidal magnets for which the body magnetic field can be expressed as a series expansion of the normal (b n ) and skew (a n ) multipoles, B y + iB x = summation(b n + ia n )(x + iy) n , where x, y, and z denote horizontal, vertical, and longitudinal (along the magnet) coordinates. Since the magnet length L is necessarily finite, deflections are actually proportional to ''field integrals'' such as bar BL ≡ ∫ B(x,y,z)dz where the integration range starts well before the magnet and ends well after it. For bar a n , bar b n , bar B x , and bar B y defined this way, the same expansion Eq. 1 is valid and the ''standard'' approximation is to neglect any deflections not described by this expansion, in spite of the fact that Maxwell's equations demand the presence of longitudinal field components at the magnet ends. The purpose of this note is to provide a semi-quantitative estimate of the importance of |Δp ∝ |, the transverse deflection produced by the ion-gitudinal component of the fringe field at one magnet end relative to |Δp 0 |, the total deflection produced by passage through the whole magnet. To emphasize the generality and simplicity of the result it is given in the form of a theorem. The essence of the proof is an evaluation of the contribution of the longitudinal field B x from the vicinity of one magnet end since, along a path parallel to the magnet axis such as path BC

The appearance of fringes in the infrared spectroscopy of thin films seriously hinders the interpretation of chemical bands because fringes change the relative peak heights of chemical spectral bands. Thus, for the correct interpretation of chemical absorption bands, physical properties need to be separated from chemical characteristics. In the paper at hand we revisit the theory of the scattering of infrared radiation at thin absorbing films. Although, in general, scattering and absorption are connected by a complex refractive index, we show that for the scattering of infrared radiation at thin biological films, fringes and chemical absorbance can in good approximation be treated as additive. We further introduce a model-based pre-processing technique for separating fringes from chemical absorbance by extended multiplicative signal correction (EMSC). The technique is validated by simulated and experimental FTIR spectra. It is further shown that EMSC, as opposed to other suggested filtering methods for the removal of fringes, does not remove information related to chemical absorption.

This paper reports that several oil transportation projects are set to transform the flows of oil in Central Europe, with potentially important implications for crude oil and product prices in the region. These projects are spurred by the desires of the newly opened economies of Central Europe to diversify their sources of oil supplies away from the U.S.S.R. and by expectations of economic growth in this region. Today, Central European countries (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, and Bulgaria) rely heavily on Soviet crude supplies. Of the 1.7 million b/d of crude oil consumed by these six countries, about 55% is imported from the U.S.S.R. This is down significantly from the more than 75% import dependence in the mid-1980s. This dependency on U.S.S.R. crude - for countries that either have a history of indigenous production (Romania) or access to Middle East or North African supplies (Yugoslavia) - testifies to more than 40 years of centrally planned economics in which Moscow provided the energy and raw materials and Central European countries delivered finished goods. Since the end of World War II, the pipeline flow of crude oil and products from Western to Central Europe has been almost nonexistent. In fact, the Western European crude and product pipeline network itself is a rather poorly integrated system, with only limited interconnections between northern and southern networks and no real competition across the major flow routes

Vapor intrusion from volatile subsurface contaminants can be mitigated by aerobic biodegradation. Laboratory column studies with contaminant sources of chlorobenzene and a mixture of chlorobenzene, 1,2-dichlorobenzene, and 1,4-dichlorobenzene showed that contaminants were rapidly degraded in thin reactive zones with high biomass and low substrate concentrations in the vicinity of the capillary fringe. Such behavior was well characterized by a model that includes oxygen-, substrate-, and biomass-dependent biodegradation kinetics along with diffusive transport processes. An analytical solution was derived to provide theoretical support for the simplification of reaction kinetics and the approximation of reactive zone location and mass flux relationships at steady state. Results demonstrate the potential of aerobic natural attenuation in the capillary fringe for preventing contaminant migration in the unsaturated zone. The solution indicates that increasing contaminant mass flux into the column creates a thinner reactive zone and pushes it toward the oxygen boundary, resulting in a shorter distance to the oxygen source and a larger oxygen mass flux that balances the contaminant mass flux. As a consequence, the aerobic biodegradation can reduce high contaminant concentrations to low levels within the capillary fringe and unsaturated zone. The results are consistent with the observations of thin reactive layers at the interface in unsaturated zones. The model considers biomass while including biodegradation in the capillary fringe and unsaturated zone and clearly demonstrates that microbial communities capable of using the contaminants as electron donors may lead to instantaneous degradation kinetics in the capillary fringe and unsaturated zone.

During development, retinal axons project coarsely within their visual targets before refining to form organized synaptic connections. Spontaneous retinal activity, in the form of acetylcholine-driven retinal waves, is proposed to be necessary for establishing these projectionpatterns. In particular, both axonal terminations of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the size of receptive fields of target neurons are larger in mice that lack the beta2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (beta2KO). Here, using a large-scale, high-density multielectrode array to record activity from hundreds of RGCs simultaneously, we present analysis of early postnatal retinal activity from both wild-type (WT) and beta2KO retinas. We find that beta2KO retinas have correlated patterns of activity, but many aspects of these patterns differ from those of WT retina. Quantitative analysis suggests that wave directionality, coupled with short-range correlated bursting patterns of RGCs, work together to refine retinofugal projections.

Full Text Available Rapid urbanization has caused many environmental problems, such as the heat island effect, intensifying air pollution, pollution from runoff, loss of wildlife habitat, etc. Accurate evaluations of these problems demand an accurate delineation of the spatial extent of the urban fringe. Conceptual and analytical ambiguity of the urban fringe and a general lack of consensus among researchers have made its measurement very difficult. This study reports a compound and reliable method to delineate the urban fringe area using a case study. Based on the 'fringe effect' theory in landscape ecology, the existing land cover information entropy model for defining the urban fringe is renewed by incorporating scale theory, cartography and urban geography theory. Results show that the urban fringe area of Guangzhou and Foshan metropolitan area covers an area of 2031 km2, and it occupies over 31% of the total study area. Result evaluation by industry structure data shows satisfactory correspondence with different land cover types. This paper reports the method and outcome of an attempt to provide an objective, repeatable and generally applicable method for mapping its spatial extent from remote sensing imageries, and could be beneficial to relevant urban studies and urban fringe management projects.

Pupil plane beam combination, spectral dispersion, detection, and fringe tracking are discussed for the IOTA interferometer. A new spectrometer design is presented in which the angular dispersion with respect to wavenumber is nearly constant. The dispersing element is a type of grism, a series combination of grating and prism, in which the constant parts of the dispersion add, but the slopes cancel. This grism is optimized for the display of channelled spectra. The dispersed fringes can be tracked by a matched-filter photon-counting correlator algorithm. This algorithm requires very few arithmetic operations per detected photon, making it well-suited for real-time fringe tracking. The algorithm is able to adapt to different stellar spectral types, intensity levels, and atmospheric time constants. The results of numerical experiments are reported.

This paper presents a method for extracting multiple phases from a single moire fringepattern in digital holographic interferometry. The method relies on component separation using singular value decomposition and an extended Kalman filter for demodulating the moire fringes. The Kalman filter is applied by modeling the interference field locally as a multi-component polynomial phase signal and extracting the associated multiple polynomial coefficients using the state space approach. In addition to phase, the corresponding multiple phase derivatives can be simultaneously extracted using the proposed method. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated using simulation and experimental results.

. Moreover, these moving ultra-high precision telescopes, each weighing 33 tonnes, fulfill very stringent mechanical stability requirements: "The telescopes are unique in the world", says Bertrand Koehler, the VLTI AT Project Manager. "After being relocated to a new position, the telescope is repositioned to a precision better than one tenth of a millimetre - that is, the size of a human hair! The image of the star is stabilized to better than thirty milli-arcsec - this is how we would see an object of the same size as one of the VLT enclosures on the Moon. Finally, the path followed by the light inside the telescope after bouncing on ten mirrors is stable to better than a few nanometres, which is the size of about one hundred atoms." A World Premiere ESO PR Photo 07e/05 ESO PR Photo 07e/05 "First Fringes" with two ATs [Preview - JPEG: 400 x 559 pix - 61k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 1134 pix - 357k] Caption: ESO PR Photo 07e/05 The "First Fringes" obtained with the first two VLTI Auxiliary Telescopes, as seen on the computer screen during the observation. The fringepattern arises when the light beams from the two 1.8-m telescopes are brought together inside the VINCI instrument. The pattern itself contains information about the angular extension of the observed object, here the 6th-magnitude star HD62082. The fringes are acquired by moving a mirror back and forth around the position of equal path length for the two telescopes. One such scan can be seen in the third row window. This pattern results from the raw interferometric signals (the last two rows) after calibration and filtering using the photometric signals (the 4th and 5th row). The first two rows show the spectrum of the fringepattern signal. More details about the interpretation of this pattern is given in Appendix A of PR 06/01. The possibility to move the ATs around and thus to perform observations with a large number of different telescope configurations ensures a great degree of flexibility, unique for an optical

Full Text Available Due to the physical nature of the interference phenomenon, extracting the phase of an interferogram is a known sinusoidal modulation problem. In order to solve this problem, a new hybrid mathematical optimization model for phase extraction is established. The combination of frequency guide sequential demodulation and harmony search optimization algorithms is used for demodulating closed fringespatterns in order to find the phase of interferogram applications. The proposed algorithm is tested in four sets of different synthetic interferograms, finding a range of average relative error in phase reconstructions of 0.14–0.39 rad. For reference, experimental results are compared with the genetic algorithm optimization technique, obtaining a reduction in the error up to 0.1448 rad. Finally, the proposed algorithm is compared with a very known demodulation algorithm, using a real interferogram, obtaining a relative error of 1.561 rad. Results are shown in patterns with complex fringes distribution.

Stitching interferometry is a common method for measuring the figure error of high numerical aperture optics. However, subaperture measurement usually requires a fringe-nulling routine, thus making the stitching procedure complex and time-consuming. The challenge when measuring a surface without a fringe-nulling routine is that the rays no longer perpendicularly hit the surface. This violation of the null-test condition can lead to high fringe density and introduce high-order misalignment aberrations into the measurement result. This paper demonstrates that the high-order misalignment aberrations can be characterized by low-order misalignment aberrations; then, an efficient method is proposed to separate the high-order misalignment aberrations from subaperture data. With the proposed method, the fringe-nulling routine is not required. Instead, the subaperture data is measured under a nonzero fringepattern. Then, all possible misalignment aberrations are removed with the proposed method. Finally, the full aperture map is acquired by connecting all subaperture data together. Experimental results showing the feasibility of the proposed procedure are presented.

The paper reviews a technique for fringe analysis referred to as Fourier fringe analysis (FFA) or the Fourier transform method, with a particular focus on its application to metrology of extreme physical phenomena. Examples include the measurement of extremely small magnetic fields with subfluxon sensitivity by electron wave interferometry, subnanometer wavefront evaluation of projection optics for extreme UV lithography, the detection of sub-Ångstrom distortion of a crystal lattice, and the measurement of ultrashort optical pulses in the femotsecond to attosecond range, which show how the advantages of FFA are exploited in these cutting edge applications.

Global ecological security becomes increasingly important with the intensive human activities. The function of ecological security is influenced by human activities, and in return, the efficiency of human activities will also be affected by the patterns of regional ecological security. Since the 1990s, China has initiated the construction of key projects "Yangtze Three Gorges Dam", "Qinghai-Tibet Railway", "West-to-East Gas Pipeline", "West-to-East Electricity Transmission" and "South-to-North Water Transfer" , etc. The interaction between these projects and regional ecological security has particularly attracted the attention of Chinese government. It is not only important for the regional environmental protection, but also of significance for the smoothly implementation of various projects aimed to develop an ecological rehabilitation system and to design a regional ecological security pattern. This paper made a systematic analysis on the types and characteristics of key project construction and their effects on the environment, and on the basis of this, brought forward the basic principles and methodology for ecological rehabilitation and security pattern design in this construction. It was considered that the following issues should be addressed in the implementation of a key project: 1) analysis and evaluation of current regional ecological environment, 2) evaluation of anthropogenic disturbances and their ecological risk, 3) regional ecological rehabilitation and security pattern design, 4) scenario analysis of environmental benefits of regional ecological security pattern, 5) re-optimization of regional ecological system framework, and 6) establishment of regional ecosystem management plan.

A detailed and comprehensive theoretical description of X-ray diffraction moiré fringes for a bicrystal specimen is given on the basis of a calculation by plane-wave dynamical diffraction theory, where the effect of the Pendellösung intensity oscillation on the moiré pattern is explained in detail. A detailed and comprehensive theoretical description of X-ray diffraction moiré fringes for a bicrystal specimen is given on the basis of a calculation by plane-wave dynamical diffraction theory. Firstly, prior to discussing the main subject of the paper, a previous article [Yoshimura (1997 ▸). Acta Cryst. A53, 810–812] on the two-dimensionality of diffraction moiré patterns is restated on a thorough calculation of the moiré interference phase. Then, the properties of moiré fringes derived from the above theory are explained for the case of a plane-wave diffraction image, where the significant effect of Pendellösung intensity oscillation on the moiré pattern when the crystal is strained is described in detail with theoretically simulated moiré images. Although such plane-wave moiré images are not widely observed in a nearly pure form, knowledge of their properties is essential for the understanding of diffraction moiré fringes in general

... available to employees or make fringe benefits available to spouses, families, or dependents of employees... Welfare DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES GENERAL ADMINISTRATION NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF..., accident, life insurance or retirement benefit, service, policy or plan, any profit-sharing or bonus plan...

"The Western tradition", as passe-partout, includes fringe figures, émigrés and migrants. Rather than looking to resources at the core of the Western tradition to overcome its own blindnesses, I am more interested in its gaps and peripheries, where other thoughts and renegade knowledges take hold. It is in the contact zones with…

The purpose of this paper is to describe patterns of patient safety culture that emerged from an innovative collaboration among health services researchers and fine arts colleagues. The group engaged in an arts-informed knowledge translation project to produce a dramatic expression of patient safety culture research for inclusion in a symposium. Scholars have called for a deeper understanding of the complex interrelationships among structure, process and outcomes relating to patient safety. Four patterns of patient safety culture--blinding familiarity, unyielding determination, illusion of control and dismissive urgency--are described with respect to how they informed creation of an arts-informed project for knowledge translation.

Wind-energy production may be expanded beyond regions with high-average wind speeds (such as the Midwest U.S.A.) to sites with lower-average speeds (such as the Southeast U.S.A.) by locating favorable regional matches between natural wind-speed and energy-demand patterns. A critical component of wind-power evaluation is to incorporate wind-speed dynamics reflecting documented diurnal and seasonal behavioral patterns. Conventional probabilistic approaches remove patterns from wind-speed data. These patterns must be restored synthetically before they can be matched with energy-demand patterns. How to accurately restore wind-speed patterns is a vexing problem spurring an expanding line of papers. We propose a paradigm shift in wind power evaluation that employs signal-detection and nonlinear-dynamics techniques to empirically diagnose whether synthetic pattern restoration can be avoided altogether. If the complex behavior of observed wind-speed records is due to nonlinear, low-dimensional, and deterministic system dynamics, then nonlinear dynamics techniques can reconstruct wind-speed dynamics from observed wind-speed data without recourse to conventional probabilistic approaches. In the first study of its kind, we test a nonlinear dynamics approach in an application to Sugarland Wind-the first utility-scale wind project proposed in Florida, USA. We find empirical evidence of a low-dimensional and nonlinear wind-speed attractor characterized by strong temporal patterns that match up well with regular daily and seasonal electricity demand patterns.

Full Text Available The analysis of dietary patterns has become a valuable tool to examine diet-disease relationships but little is known about their effects on quality of life. Our aim was to ascertain the association between major dietary patterns and mental and physical quality of life after 4 years of follow-up.This analysis included 11,128 participants from the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN cohort. Dietary habits were assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to derive dietary patterns. Quality of life was measured with the validated Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey.Two major dietary patterns were identified, the 'Western' dietary pattern (rich in red meats, processed pastries and fast-food and the "Mediterranean" dietary pattern (high in fruits, vegetables and olive oil. After controlling for confounders, the Western dietary pattern was associated with quality of life in all domains. The magnitude of these differences between the subjects in the highest (quintile 5 and the lowest quintile of adherence to the Western pattern ranged from -0.8 (for mental health to -3.5 (for vitality. On the contrary, the Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with better quality of life domains: differences ranged from +1.3 (for physical functioning to +3.4 (for vitality when comparing extreme quintiles of adherence. Additional sensitivity analyses did not change the reported differences.Whereas baseline adherence to a Western dietary pattern was inversely associated with self-perceived quality of life after 4 years of follow-up, baseline adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was directly associated with better scores in quality of life four years later in the SUN Project.

The analysis of dietary patterns has become a valuable tool to examine diet-disease relationships but little is known about their effects on quality of life. Our aim was to ascertain the association between major dietary patterns and mental and physical quality of life after 4 years of follow-up. This analysis included 11,128 participants from the "Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra" (SUN) cohort. Dietary habits were assessed using a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis was used to derive dietary patterns. Quality of life was measured with the validated Spanish version of the SF-36 Health Survey. Two major dietary patterns were identified, the 'Western' dietary pattern (rich in red meats, processed pastries and fast-food) and the "Mediterranean" dietary pattern (high in fruits, vegetables and olive oil). After controlling for confounders, the Western dietary pattern was associated with quality of life in all domains. The magnitude of these differences between the subjects in the highest (quintile 5) and the lowest quintile of adherence to the Western pattern ranged from -0.8 (for mental health) to -3.5 (for vitality). On the contrary, the Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with better quality of life domains: differences ranged from +1.3 (for physical functioning) to +3.4 (for vitality) when comparing extreme quintiles of adherence. Additional sensitivity analyses did not change the reported differences. Whereas baseline adherence to a Western dietary pattern was inversely associated with self-perceived quality of life after 4 years of follow-up, baseline adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was directly associated with better scores in quality of life four years later in the SUN Project.

We examine the relationship between employer size and the provision of fringe benefits in a large sample of rural businesses. A clear employer size-benefits relationship exists only in the case of health insurance, while other benefits are not strongly linked to employer size. The negative relationship between employer size and health insurance is weaker, though still existent, in businesses whose employees have relatively high skill levels. Single, independent establishments and sole proprie...

The frequency of flooding events that affect low lying islands and atolls in the Pacific is expected to increase under current sea level rise projections. Infragravity (IG) motions, with periods ranging from approximately 25 to 400 seconds, are an important component of wave driven flooding events for reef fringed islands and atolls. The IG variability during wave events is analyzed and interpreted dynamically from pressure and current observations at four cross-reef transects in the North Pacific Ocean that include sites in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Guam. The IG motions are shown to depend upon the spectral properties of the incident wave forcing and reef flat characteristics that include reef flat length (ranging from 100m to 450m at the four sites) and total water level due to setup and tides. A small inundation event at one of the sites is shown to occur due to large shoreline infragravity energy.

Silicon crystals implanted with 9 MeV protons to the dose of 5x10 17 cm -2 were studied with X-ray topographic methods using both conventional and synchrotron radiation sources. After the implantation the crystals were thermally and electron annealed. The implantation produced large 600 μm thick shot-through layer while the total thickness of the samples was 1.6 mm. It was confirmed by means of double crystal topography that the whole crystal was elastically bent. The transmission section patterns revealed both parts of the implanted crystal separated by strong contrasts coming from the most damaged layer and distinct interference fringes which appeared on one side of the topograph only. The locations of the fringes changed when the beam entered the other side of the sample. The mechanism of fringe formation was studied with numerical integration of the Takagi-Taupin equations, especially studying the intensity distribution in the diffraction plane. The simulations reproduced the location of the fringes in different geometries and indicate that they can be caused both by variable crystal curvature and variable ion dose. (author)

The line-imaging ORVIS or VISAR provides velocity as a function of position and time for a line on an experimental setup via a streak camera record of interference fringes. This document describes a Matlab-based program which guides the user through the process of converting these fringe data to a velocity surface. The data reduction is of the "fringe trace" type, wherein the changes in velocity at a given position on the line are calculated based on fringe motion past that point. The analyst must establish the fringe behavior up front, aided by peak-finding routines in the program. However, the later work of using fringe jumps to compensate for phase problems in other analysis techniques is greatly reduced. This program is not a standard GUI construction, and is prescriptive. At various points it saves the progress, allowing later restarts from those points.

The Infrared/Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) is a multi-aperture Michelson interferometer located on Mt. Hopkins near Tucson, Arizona. To enable viewing of fainter targets, an on-line fringe tracking system is presently under development at NASA Ames Research Center. The system has been developed off-line using actual data from IOTA, and is presently undergoing on-line implementation at IOTA. The system has two parts: (1) a fringe tracking system that identifies the center of a fringe packet by fitting a parametric model to the data; and (2) a fringe packet motion prediction system that uses characteristics of past fringe packets to predict fringe packet motion. Combined, this information will be used to optimize on-line the scanning trajectory, resulting in improved visibility of faint targets. Fringe packet identification is highly accurate and robust (99% of the 4000 fringe packets were identified correctly, the remaining 1% were either out of the scan range or too noisy to be seen) and is performed in 30-90 milliseconds on a Pentium II-based computer. Fringe packet prediction, currently performed using an adaptive linear predictor, delivers a 10% improvement over the baseline of predicting no motion.

The effects of low-frequency vibrations on speckle correlation fringes have been investigated. The relatively short capture time of the camera in the low-frequency case may yield usable fringe contrast in spite of vibration. It has been shown that the fringes also shift due to the vibration. The study is in agreement with experimental observations of good-contrast correlation fringes even if the object is not on a vibration-isolated table. Some such experimental observations are also presented. copyright 1998 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers

This contribution studies the provision of fringe benefits using a unique survey of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. Analysis of the survey reveals that women who own SMEs are more likely than men who own similar firms to provide employees with fringe benefits such as annual...... and workforce structure, worker recruitment mechanisms, and the degree of unionization. However, these factors cannot fully account for the observed differences in fringe benefits along the “gender of owner” dimension. There remains a sizable and unexplained fringe benefits premium paid to employees in women...

Full Text Available Sustainable development of mega-projects has drawn many concerns around the world. The theory of disruptive innovation in mega-projects is a typical sustainable development pattern but still lacks systematic understanding. This article takes China’s high-speed rail (CHSR project as an example to analyze the disruptive innovation pattern of mega-projects. First, this paper systematically traces the theories of disruptive innovation and summarizes the connotations of disruptive innovation. Simultaneously, from the historical development of several typical mega-projects in China, this paper summarizes the connotations of mega-projects. Based on two connotations, this paper summarizes the theoretical basis of disruptive innovation in mega-projects. Second, this paper takes the CHSR project as a case to analyze its innovation pattern from the analysis of the development process, operation mechanism and influence in sustainability; the disruptive innovation pattern is put forward afterward. Third, the discussion is drawn from the perspectives of the characteristics, scope of application and innovation environment of the disruptive innovation of CHSR. Last, the conclusions of this article are summarized.

The use of an electronic high-speed camera in the streaking mode to record interference fringe motion from a velocity interferometer is discussed. Advantages of this method over the photomultiplier tube-oscilloscope approach are delineated. Performance testing and data for the electronic streak camera are discussed. The velocity profile of a mylar flyer accelerated by an electrically exploded bridge, and the jump-off velocity of metal targets struck by these mylar flyers are measured in the camera tests. Advantages of the streak camera include portability, low cost, ease of operation and maintenance, simplified interferometer optics, and rapid data analysis

The Associative Memory (AM) chip is special device that allows to find coincidence patterns, or just patterns, between the incoming data in up to 8 parallel streams. The latest AM chip has been designed to receive silicon clusters generated in 8 layers of the ATLAS silicon detector sensor, to perform parallel track pattern matching at high rate and it will be the core of the FTK project. Data going through each of the busses are compared with a bank of patterns and AM chip looks for matches in each line, like commercial content addressable memory (CAM). The high density of hits expected in the ATLAS inner detector from 2015 put a challenge in the capability of the AM chip in rejecting random coincidences, requiring either an extremely high number of high precision patterns, with increasing costs and complexity of the system, or more flexible solutions. For this reason in the most recent prototype of the AM chip ternary cells have been added in the logic, allowing “don’t care” (DC) bits in the match. Hav...

In estimating earnings equations for seven occupations, when fringe benefits are excluded, women receive significantly lower wages in all but the most female-dominated occupation. Including fringe benefits makes gender significant in only one occupational category. Crowding of one gender into an occupation appears the primary determinant of the…

and learning and subsequent discussion of this material. Repeated interviews were analyzed using an adapted version of the interconnected model of teachers’ professional growth. The results show various ways of experimenting with new approaches to be important for three of the teachers while a novice teacher...... the participants refer to. Conclusion is that there are professional growth patterns, especially a pattern involving experimenting, which have a forward-pointing potential to be used to inform school based PD. The results implicate that the same PD project can frame experimenting into practice in various tempi...... and with differentiated facilitation aligned to the individual teacher’s current needs and that external support of science resource teachers can be an integrated part of school based PD....

In the present study we propose a technique for micro analysis of fringe field formed inside laser Doppler anemometry (LDA) measuring volume. Detailed knowledge of the fringe field obtained by this technique allows beam quality, alignment and fringe uniformity to be evaluated with greater precision and may be helpful for selection of an appropriate optical element for LDA system operation. A complete characterization of fringes formed at the measurement volume using conventional, as well as holographic optical elements, is presented. Results indicate the qualitative, as well as quantitative, improvement of fringes formed at the measurement volume by holographic optical elements. Hence, use of holographic optical elements in LDA systems may be advantageous for improving accuracy in the measurement. (paper)

Full Text Available Qlab is an open-source project that supports various mathematical calculations, specialized for academic use. It has been developed at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, and is supported by Microsoft Serbia. In this paper we present some of Qlab’s successfully implemented core solutions. More precisely, in our approach we use a specialized Visitor pattern to optimize the management of syntax tree commands that our parser sends to our engine. This allows the processing of a larger scale of tree implementation using the Visitor interface.

In the case that the phase distribution of interferogram is nonuniform and the background/modulation amplitude change rapidly, the current self-calibration algorithms with better performance like principal components analysis (PCA) and advanced iterative algorithm (AIA) cannot work well. In this study, from three or more phase-shifting interferograms with unknown phase-shifts, we propose a spatial dual-orthogonal (SDO) phase-shifting algorithm with high accuracy through using the spatial orthogonal property of interference fringe, in which a new sequence of fringepatterns with uniform phase distribution can be constructed by pre-recomposing original interferograms to determine their corresponding optimum combination coefficients, which are directly related with the phase shifts. Both simulation and experimental results show that using the proposed SDO algorithm, we can achieve accurate phase from the phase-shifting interferograms with nonuniform phase distribution, non-constant background and arbitrary phase shifts. Specially, it is found that the accuracy of phase retrieval with the proposed SDO algorithm is insensitive to the variation of fringepattern, and this will supply a guarantee for high accuracy phase measurement and application.

In automotive and glass making industries, there is a need for accurately measuring the 3D shapes of reflective surfaces to speed up and ensure product development and manufacturing quality by using non-contact techniques. This paper describes a technique for the measurement of non-full-field reflective surfaces of automotive glass by using a fringe reflection technique. Physical properties of the measurement surfaces do not allow us to apply optical geometries used in existing techniques for surface measurement based upon direct fringepattern illumination. However, this property of surface reflectivity can be used to implement similar ideas from existing techniques in a new improved method. In other words, the reflective surface can be used as a mirror to reflect illuminated fringepatterns onto a screen behind. It has been found that in the case of implementing the reflective fringe technique, the phase-shift distribution depends not only on the height of the object but also on the slope at each measurement point. This requires the solving of differential equations to find the surface slope and height distributions in the x and y directions and development of the additional height reconstruction algorithms. The main focus has been made on developing a mathematical model of the optical sub-system and discussing ways for its practical implementation including calibration procedures. A number of implemented image processing algorithms for system calibration and data analysis are discussed and two experimental results are given for automotive glass surfaces with different shapes and defects. The proposed technique showed the ability to provide accurate non-destructive measurement of 3D shapes of the reflective automotive glass surfaces and can be used as a key element for a glass shape quality control system on-line or in a laboratory environment.

We present an approach for evaluating catchment-scale hydro-meteorological impacts of projected climate change based on the atmospheric circulation patterns (ACPs) of a region. Our approach is motivated by the conjecture that GCMs are especially good at simulating the atmospheric circulation patterns that control moisture transport, and which can be expected to change in response to global warming. In support of this, we show (for the late 20th century) that GCMs provide much better simulations of ACPs than those of precipitation amount for the Upper Guadiana Basin in central Spain. For the same period, four of the twenty GCMs participating in the most recent (5th) IPCC Assessment provide quite accurate representations of the spatial patterns of mean sea level pressure, the frequency distribution of ACP type, the 'number of rainy days per month', and the daily 'probability of rain' (they also reproduce the trend of 'wet day amount', though not the actual magnitudes). A consequent analysis of projected trends and changes in hydro-climatic ACPology between the late 20th and 21st Centuries indicates that (1) actual changes appear to be occurring faster than predicted by the models, and (2) for two greenhouse gas emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) the expected decline in precipitation volume is associated mainly with a few specific ACPs (primarily directional flows from the Atlantic Ocean and Cantabric Sea), and with decreasing probability of rain (linked to increasing temperatures) rather than wet day amount. Our approach is a potentially more insightful alternative for catchment-scale climate impacts assessments than the common approach of statistical downscaling and bias correction.

Full Text Available Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs are significant biomarkers in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases in humans, done by mean of Indirect ImmunoFluorescence (IIF method, and performed by analyzing patterns and fluorescence intensity. This paper introduces the AIDA Project (autoimmunity: diagnosis assisted by computer developed in the framework of an Italy-Tunisia cross-border cooperation and its preliminary results. A database of interpreted IIF images is being collected through the exchange of images and double reporting and a Gold Standard database, containing around 1000 double reported images, has been settled. The Gold Standard database is used for optimization of a CAD (Computer Aided Detection solution and for the assessment of its added value, in order to be applied along with an Immunologist as a second Reader in detection of autoantibodies. This CAD system is able to identify on IIF images the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescence pattern. Preliminary results show that CAD, used as second Reader, appeared to perform better than Junior Immunologists and hence may significantly improve their efficacy; compared with two Junior Immunologists, the CAD system showed higher Intensity Accuracy (85,5% versus 66,0% and 66,0%, higher Patterns Accuracy (79,3% versus 48,0% and 66,2%, and higher Mean Class Accuracy (79,4% versus 56,7% and 64.2%.

Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) are significant biomarkers in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases in humans, done by mean of Indirect ImmunoFluorescence (IIF) method, and performed by analyzing patterns and fluorescence intensity. This paper introduces the AIDA Project (autoimmunity: diagnosis assisted by computer) developed in the framework of an Italy-Tunisia cross-border cooperation and its preliminary results. A database of interpreted IIF images is being collected through the exchange of images and double reporting and a Gold Standard database, containing around 1000 double reported images, has been settled. The Gold Standard database is used for optimization of a CAD (Computer Aided Detection) solution and for the assessment of its added value, in order to be applied along with an Immunologist as a second Reader in detection of autoantibodies. This CAD system is able to identify on IIF images the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescence pattern. Preliminary results show that CAD, used as second Reader, appeared to perform better than Junior Immunologists and hence may significantly improve their efficacy; compared with two Junior Immunologists, the CAD system showed higher Intensity Accuracy (85,5% versus 66,0% and 66,0%), higher Patterns Accuracy (79,3% versus 48,0% and 66,2%), and higher Mean Class Accuracy (79,4% versus 56,7% and 64.2%).

Antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) are significant biomarkers in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases in humans, done by mean of Indirect ImmunoFluorescence (IIF) method, and performed by analyzing patterns and fluorescence intensity. This paper introduces the AIDA Project (autoimmunity: diagnosis assisted by computer) developed in the framework of an Italy-Tunisia cross-border cooperation and its preliminary results. A database of interpreted IIF images is being collected through the exchange of images and double reporting and a Gold Standard database, containing around 1000 double reported images, has been settled. The Gold Standard database is used for optimization of a CAD (Computer Aided Detection) solution and for the assessment of its added value, in order to be applied along with an Immunologist as a second Reader in detection of autoantibodies. This CAD system is able to identify on IIF images the fluorescence intensity and the fluorescence pattern. Preliminary results show that CAD, used as second Reader, appeared to perform better than Junior Immunologists and hence may significantly improve their efficacy; compared with two Junior Immunologists, the CAD system showed higher Intensity Accuracy (85,5% versus 66,0% and 66,0%), higher Patterns Accuracy (79,3% versus 48,0% and 66,2%), and higher Mean Class Accuracy (79,4% versus 56,7% and 64.2%). PMID:27042658

Capillary fringe fluctuations due to changing water tables lead to displacement of air-water interfaces in soils and sediments. These moving air-water interfaces can mobilize colloids. We visualized colloids interacting with moving air-water interfaces during capillary fringe fluctuations by confocal microscopy. We simulated capillary fringe fluctuations in a glass-bead-filled column. We studied four specific conditions: (1) colloids suspended in the aqueous phase, (2) colloids attached to the glass beads in an initially wet porous medium, (3) colloids attached to the glass beads in an initially dry porous medium, and (4) colloids suspended in the aqueous phase with the presence of a static air bubble. Confocal images confirmed that the capillary fringe fluctuations affect colloid transport behavior. Hydrophilic negatively charged colloids initially suspended in the aqueous phase were deposited at the solid-water interface after a drainage passage, but then were removed by subsequent capillary fringe fluctuations. The colloids that were initially attached to the wet or dry glass bead surface were detached by moving air-water interfaces in the capillary fringe. Hydrophilic negatively charged colloids did not attach to static air-bubbles, but hydrophobic negatively charged and hydrophilic positively charged colloids did. Our results demonstrate that capillary fringe fluctuations are an effective means for colloid mobilization.

Solar acoustic waves are scattered by a sunspot due to the interaction between the acoustic waves and the sunspot. The sunspot, excited by the incident wave, generates the scattered wave. The scattered wave is added to the incident wave to form the total wave around the sunspot. The interference fringes between the scattered wave and the incident wave are visible in the intensity of the total wave because the coherent time of the incident wave is of the order of a wave period. The strength of the interference fringes anti-correlates with the width of temporal spectra of the incident wave. The separation between neighboring fringes increases with the incident wavelength and the sunspot size. The strength of the fringes increases with the radial order n of the incident wave from n = 0 to n = 2, and then decreases from n = 2 to n = 5. The interference fringes play a role analogous to holograms in optics. This study suggests the feasibility of using the interference fringes to reconstruct the scattered wavefields of the sunspot, although the quality of the reconstructed wavefields is sensitive to the noise and errors in the interference fringes.

This report presents projections of the supply, demand, and net imports of seven fuel types and four final consuming sectors for BEAs, states, census regions, and the nation for 1980 and 1985. The data are formatted to present regional energy availability from primary extraction, as well as from regional transformation processes. As constructed, the tables depict energy balances between availability and use for each of the specific fuels. The objective of the program is to provide a consistent base of historic and projected energy information within a standard format. Such a framework should aid regional policymakers in their consideration of regional growth issues that may be influenced by the regional energy system. This basic data must be supplemented by region-specific information which only the local policy analyst can bring to bear in his assessment of the energy conditions which characterize each region. The energy data, coupled with specific knowledge of projected economic growth and employment patterns, can assist EDA in developing its grant-in-aid investment strategy.

For particles with speed upsilon and mass m emitted isotropically from a point source and falling under gravity g, the quantal probability density is dominated by a paraboloidal caustic decorated with paraboloidal interference fringes. Near the caustic, the fringes have a spacing independent of upsilon and hence of wavelength, given by ΔR=3.53897x(h 2 /m 2 g)sup(1/3) for the first two (brightest) fringes at the level of the source. For neutrons in the Earth's field, ΔR=0.02617mm. The effect might be difficult to detect. (author)

... of fringe benefits. 114.12 Section 114.12 Federal Elections FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION GENERAL CORPORATE AND LABOR ORGANIZATION ACTIVITY § 114.12 Incorporation of political committees; payment of fringe...'s share of the cost of fringe benefits, such as health and life insurance and retirement, for...

The fringing-field effects on particle trajectories in magnetic quadrupoles are described to 5th order by fringing-field integrals. It is shown that this method improves the description of fringing-field effects noticeably over the so far known use of third-order fringing-field integrals. (Author)

The phase slope method which estimates height through fringepattern frequency and the algorithm which estimates height through the fringe phase are the fringe analysis algorithms widely used in interferometry. Generally they both extract the phase information by filtering the signal in frequency domain after Fourier transform. Among the numerous papers in the literature about these algorithms, it is found that the design of the filter, which plays an important role, has never been discussed in detail. This paper focuses on the filter design in these algorithms for wavelength scanning interferometry (WSI), trying to optimize the parameters to acquire the optimal results. The spectral characteristics of the interference signal are analyzed first. The effective signal is found to be narrow-band (near single frequency), and the central frequency is calculated theoretically. Therefore, the position of the filter pass-band is determined. The width of the filter window is optimized with the simulation to balance the elimination of the noise and the ringing of the filter. Experimental validation of the approach is provided, and the results agree very well with the simulation. The experiment shows that accuracy can be improved by optimizing the filter design, especially when the signal quality, i.e., the signal noise ratio (SNR), is low. The proposed method also shows the potential of improving the immunity to the environmental noise by adapting the signal to acquire the optimal results through designing an adaptive filter once the signal SNR can be estimated accurately.

Quantum entanglement can help to increase the precision of optical phase measurements beyond the shot noise limit (SNL) to the ultimate Heisenberg limit. However, the N-photon parity measurements required to achieve this optimal sensitivity are extremely difficult to realize with current photon detection technologies, requiring high-fidelity resolution of N + 1 different photon distributions between the output ports. Recent experimental demonstrations of precision beyond the SNL have therefore used only one or two photon-number detection patterns instead of parity measurements. Here we investigate the achievable phase sensitivity of the simple and efficient single interference fringe detection technique. We show that the maximally-entangled “NOON” state does not achieve optimal phase sensitivity when N > 4, rather, we show that the Holland-Burnett state is optimal. We experimentally demonstrate this enhanced sensitivity using a single photon-counted fringe of the six-photon Holland-Burnett state. Specifically, our single-fringe six-photon measurement achieves a phase variance three times below the SNL. PMID:24067490

Fringe counting method with laser diodes (LDs) for displacement measurement has been constructed. Two LDs are frequency modulated by mutually inverted sawtooth currents on an unbalanced two-beam interferometer. The mutually inverted sawtooth-current modulation of LDs produces interference fringe signals with opposite signs for respective wavelengths. The two fringe signals are fed to an electronic mixer to produce a synthetic fringe signal with a reduced sensitivity to the synthetic wavelength. Synthetic fringe pulses derived from the synthetic fringe signal make a fringe counting system possible for faster movement of the tested mirror

The career of a psychologist whose work has been on the fringe of psychometrics, of personality theory, and, at a stretch, of psychoanalytic theory and the philosophy of science is described in this article.

A general scaling law can be derived for the relative momentum deflection produced on a particle beam by fringe fields, to leading order. The formalism is applied to two concrete examples, for magnets having dipole and quadrupole symmetry. During recent years, the impact of magnet fringe fields is becoming increasingly important for rings of relatively small circumference but large acceptance. A few years ago, following some heuristic arguments, a scaling law was proposed [1], for the relative deflection of particles passing through a magnet fringe-field. In fact, after appropriate expansion of the magnetic fields in Cartesian coordinates, which generalizes the expansions of Steffen [2], one can show that this scaling law is true for any multipole magnet, at leading order in the transverse coefficients [3]. This paper intends to provide the scaling law to estimate the impact of fringe fields in the special cases of magnets with dipole and quadrupole symmetry

.... It causes fringes to move on ms time-scales, forcing very short exposures. Because of the semi-random phase shifts, the traditional approach averages exposure power spectra to build signal-to-noise ratio (SNR...

Full Text Available Recently there has been renewed interest in the influence of fringe fields on particle dynamics, due to studies that revealed their importance in some cases, as, for example, the proposed Neutrino Factory and muon colliders. In this paper, we present a systematic study of generic fringe field effects. Using as an example a lattice of the proposed Neutrino Factory, we show that fringe fields influence the dynamics of particles at all orders, starting with the linear motion. It is found that the widely used sharp cutoff approximation leads to divergences regardless of the specific fall-off shape of the fields. The results suggest that a careful consideration of fringe field effects in the design stage of small machines for large emittances is always recommended.

Interferometry is an important part of optics courses taught at the undergraduate level in universities throughout the world. It is used to explain to students the wave nature of light and is also used to measure parameters like length, refractive index, thickness of test samples and wavelength of light source, etc. The shape of interference fringes (linear, conic or circular) gives vital information about the interfering wavefronts and is used for firsthand visual inspection in optical shop testing and other applications of scientific and engineering importance. The present work describes a simple laboratory technique to generate fringes with different shapes in a single interferogram. This is achieved by using our diffraction-Lloyd mirror interferometer where two portions of the diffracted field are superimposed to generate the interference fringes. The technique is quite helpful in explaining the role of source orientation on the shape of interference fringes to students. (paper)

Global average temperatures have been rising for the past half-century, and the warming trend has accelerated in recent decades. Further warming is expected over the next few decades, with significant regional variations. These warming trends will probably result in more frequent, intense and persistent periods of hot temperatures in summer, and generally higher temperatures in winter. Daily death counts in cities increase markedly when temperatures reach levels that are very high relative to what is normal in a given location. Relatively cold temperatures also seem to carry risk. Rising temperatures may result in more heat-related mortality but may also reduce cold-related mortality, and the net impact on annual mortality remains uncertain. Here we use 16 downscaled global climate models and two emissions scenarios to estimate present and future seasonal patterns in temperature-related mortality in Manhattan, New York. All 32 projections yielded warm-season increases and cold-season decreases in temperature-related mortality, with positive net annual temperature-related deaths in all cases. Monthly analyses showed that the largest percentage increases may occur in May and September. These results suggest that, over a range of models and scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions, increases in heat-related mortality could outweigh reductions in cold-related mortality, with shifting seasonal patterns.

An inadequate diet and physical inactivity may compound the many deleterious effects of smoking on health. Some research indicates that smoking behavior is related to other health behaviors, but little research has examined how smoking may be related to dietary intake of key nutrients, consumption of fast food, sedentary lifestyle, or weight status. The purpose of this study was to describe smoking frequency among adolescents and its relationship to physical activity and dietary patterns. The research study employed a cross-sectional, population-based design. Adolescents self-reported cigarette smoking, physical activity, and eating behaviors on the Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) survey and reported dietary intake on a food frequency questionnaire completed in school classrooms. The sample included 4746 middle school and high school students from Minneapolis-St. Paul public schools. Mixed-model regression, which was controlled for sex, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, grade level (middle school or high school), and school, was used to examine the association of smoking with diet and physical activity patterns. Overall, reported smoking frequency was inversely related to participating in team sports, eating regular meals, and consuming healthful foods and nutrients. Smoking frequency was directly related to frequency of fast-food and soft drink consumption. Adolescents who smoke cigarettes may be less likely to engage in health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Interventions are needed to prevent smoking and the unhealthy dietary practices and physical activity behaviors that may be associated with it.

Because of the ‘soft-field’ nature, all electrical tomography sensors suffer from electric field distortion, i.e. the fringe effect. In electrical resistance tomography (ERT) sensors, small pin electrodes are commonly used. It is well known that the pin electrodes result in severe electric field distortion or the fringe effect, and the sensing region of such an ERT sensor spreads out of the pin electrode plane to a large volume. This is also true for electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) sensors, even though it is less severe because of larger electrodes and grounded end guards used. However, when the length of electrodes in an ECT sensor without guards is reduced to almost the same dimension as those in an ERT sensor, the fringe effect is equally obvious. To investigate the fringe effect of ERT and ECT sensors with and without guards, simulations were carried out with different length of electrodes and the results are compared with the corresponding 2D simulation. It is concluded that ECT and ERT sensors with longer electrodes have less fringe effect. Because grounded end guards are effective in reducing the fringe effect of ECT sensors, we propose to apply grounded guards in ERT sensors and integrate ECT and ERT sensors together. Simulation results reveal that ERT sensors with grounded guards have less fringe effect. While commonly current excitation is used with ERT sensors, we propose voltage excitation instead to apply the grounded guards. The feasibility of this approach has been verified by experiment. Finally, a common structure for reducing the fringe effect is proposed for ECT and ERT sensors for the first time to simplify the sensor structure and reduce the mutual interference in ECT/ERT dual-modality measurements. (paper)

Liquid crystal display (LCD) screens are located outside of a camera's field of view in fringe-reflection deflectometry. Therefore, fringes that are displayed on LCD screens are obtained through specular reflection by a fixed camera. Thus, the pose calibration between the camera and LCD screen is one of the main challenges in fringe-reflection deflectometry. A markerless planar mirror is used to reflect the LCD screen more than three times, and the fringes are mapped into the fixed camera. The geometrical calibration can be accomplished by estimating the pose between the camera and the virtual image of fringes. Considering the relation between their pose, the incidence and reflection rays can be unified in the camera frame, and a forward triangulation intersection can be operated in the camera frame to measure three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of the specular surface. In the final optimization, constraint-bundle adjustment is operated to refine simultaneously the camera intrinsic parameters, including distortion coefficients, estimated geometrical pose between the LCD screen and camera, and 3D coordinates of the specular surface, with the help of the absolute phase collinear constraint. Simulation and experiment results demonstrate that the pose calibration with planar mirror reflection is simple and feasible, and the constraint-bundle adjustment can enhance the 3D coordinate measurement accuracy in fringe-reflection deflectometry.

Full Text Available Decision making research often dichotomises between more deliberative, cognitive processes and more heuristic, intuitive and emotional processes. We argue that within this two-systems framework (e.g., Kahneman, 2002 there is ambiguity over how to map the System 1/System 2 axis, and the notion of intuitive processing, onto the distinction between conscious and non-conscious processes. However the convergent concepts of experience-based metacognitive judgements (Koriat, 2007 and of fringe consciousness (Mangan, 1993 can clarify intuitive processing as an informative extit{conscious feeling} without conscious access to the antecedents of the feeling. We stress that these intuitive feelings can be used to guide behaviour in a controlled and contextually sensitive manner that would not be permitted by purely non-conscious influences on behaviour. An outline is provided for how to empirically recognise these intuitive feelings. This is illustrated with an example from research on implicit learning where intuitive feelings may play an important role in peoples' decisions and judgements. Finally we suggest that our approach to understanding intuitive feelings softens rather than reinforces the two-systems dichotomy.

An interferometer with a Fresnel zone plate located in the center of curvature of a concave mirror was studied. Attention was paid to the unique features of the interference field, which has a special point at which the path difference is equal to zero, thereby allowing for the observation of Newton-type fringes in white and quasi-monochromatic light. The conditions necessary for reducing the instrumental error to values less than lambda/20 were determined. Methods for suppressing noise and destructive interference patterns were also found. Metrological tests were carried out, and they proved the possibility of using this interferometer for industrial testing of spherical and parabolic mirrors.

Bangladesh is blessed by rivers that contribute to country's agriculture, landscape development and water supply. Due to nature of the river's flow and morphology, several engineering project have been initiated to enhance its utility, Teesta barrage was one of them. After two decades of its construction in Northern Bangladesh, several study identified major impacts on local ecosystem due to hindrance in water flow. However, how Teesta River evolved in last 25 years after the barrage construction, has not been quantified yet. This study quantifies the downstream evolution of Teesta River in after-construction period (1990-2015). Time series earth observation satellite (Landsat) data and geo-spatial techniques have been utilized to understand the changes in course pattern. Besides, sinuosity index has been used to quantify it. Analysis shows that the river is becoming more braided with the rise of numerous `Char' areas (islands); as well as bifurcation of the main channel, creating newer channels increasingly. Statistically significant changes in Sinuosity Index (SI) of the Teesta river has found in post construction period. In some locations SI increased which indicate that the river is becoming more and more winding than straight it used to be around 1990. It is also found that the river is shifting towards the east where the number of human settlement is higher. The rate of shifting has accelerated during the 2000s. There are places where the course has moved about 3 kilometers from its earlier course. Therefore, higher number of human settlements are in threat of river bank erosion in recent years. River bank management should be developed considering the pattern of course change so that rural settlement can save from destructive river bank erosion.

The Dietary Patterns Methods Project (DPMP) was initiated in 2012 to strengthen research evidence on dietary indices, dietary patterns, and health for upcoming revisions of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, given that the lack of consistent methodology has impeded development of consistent and reliable conclusions. DPMP investigators developed research questions and a standardized approach to index-based dietary analysis. This article presents a synthesis of findings across the cohorts. Standardized analyses were conducted in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the Multiethnic Cohort, and the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study (WHI-OS). Healthy Eating Index 2010, Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010), alternate Mediterranean Diet, and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) scores were examined across cohorts for correlations between pairs of indices; concordant classifications into index score quintiles; associations with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality with the use of Cox proportional hazards models; and dietary intake of foods and nutrients corresponding to index quintiles. Across all cohorts in women and men, there was a high degree of correlation and consistent classifications between index pairs. Higher diet quality (top quintile) was significantly and consistently associated with an 11–28% reduced risk of death due to all causes, CVD, and cancer compared with the lowest quintile, independent of known confounders. This was true for all diet index–mortality associations, with the exception of AHEI-2010 and cancer mortality in WHI-OS women. In all cohorts, survival benefit was greater with a higher-quality diet, and relatively small intake differences distinguished the index quintiles. The reductions in mortality risk started at relatively lower levels of diet quality. Higher scores on each of the indices, signifying higher diet quality, were associated with marked reductions in mortality

Fringe biasing is a stratified sampling scheme applicable to Monte Carlo thermal radiation transport codes. The thermal emission source in optically thick cells is partitioned into separate contributions from the cell interiors (where the likelihood of the particles escaping the cells is virtually zero) and the 'fringe' regions close to the cell boundaries. Thermal emission in the cell interiors can now be modelled with fewer particles, the remaining particles being concentrated in the fringes so that they are more likely to contribute to the energy exchange between cells. Unlike other techniques for improving the efficiency in optically thick regions (such as random walk and discrete diffusion treatments), fringe biasing has the benefit of simplicity, as the associated changes are restricted to the sourcing routines with the particle tracking routines being unaffected. This paper presents an analysis of the potential for variance reduction achieved from employing the fringe biasing technique. The aim of this analysis is to guide the implementation of this technique in Monte Carlo thermal radiation codes, specifically in order to aid the choice of the fringe width and the proportion of particles allocated to the fringe (which are interrelated) in multi-dimensional simulations, and to confirm that the significant levels of variance reduction achieved in simulations can be understood by studying the behaviour for simple test cases. The variance reduction properties are studied for a single cell in a slab geometry purely absorbing medium, investigating the accuracy of the scalar flux and current tallies on one of the interfaces with the surrounding medium. (authors)

Fringe biasing is a stratified sampling scheme applicable to Monte Carlo thermal radiation transport codes. The thermal emission source in optically thick cells is partitioned into separate contributions from the cell interiors (where the likelihood of the particles escaping the cells is virtually zero) and the 'fringe' regions close to the cell boundaries. Thermal emission in the cell interiors can now be modelled with fewer particles, the remaining particles being concentrated in the fringes so that they are more likely to contribute to the energy exchange between cells. Unlike other techniques for improving the efficiency in optically thick regions (such as random walk and discrete diffusion treatments), fringe biasing has the benefit of simplicity, as the associated changes are restricted to the sourcing routines with the particle tracking routines being unaffected. This paper presents an analysis of the potential for variance reduction achieved from employing the fringe biasing technique. The aim of this analysis is to guide the implementation of this technique in Monte Carlo thermal radiation codes, specifically in order to aid the choice of the fringe width and the proportion of particles allocated to the fringe (which are interrelated) in multi-dimensional simulations, and to confirm that the significant levels of variance reduction achieved in simulations can be understood by studying the behaviour for simple test cases. The variance reduction properties are studied for a single cell in a slab geometry purely absorbing medium, investigating the accuracy of the scalar flux and current tallies on one of the interfaces with the surrounding medium. (authors)

Some image analysis techniques are developed for simplifying lattice fringe images of deposited pyrocarbon in carbon/carbon composites by chemical vapor infiltration. They are mainly the object counting method for detecting the optimum threshold, the self-adaptive morphological filtering, the node-separation technique for breaking the aggregate fringes, and some post processing algorithms for reconstructing the fringes. The simplified fringes are the foundation for defining and extracting quantitative nanostructure parameters of pyrocarbon. The frequency filter window of a Fourier transform is defined as the circular band that retains only those fringes with interlayer distance between 0.3 and 0.45 nm. Some judge criteria are set to define topological relation between fringes. For example, the aspect ratio and area of fringes are employed to detect aggregate fringes. Fringe coaxality and distance between endpoints are used to judge the disconnected fringes. The optimum values are determined by using the iterative correction techniques. The best cut-off value for the short fringes is chosen only when there is a reasonable match between the mean fringe length and the value measured by X-ray diffraction. The adopted techniques have been verified to be feasible and to have the potential to convert the complex lattice fringe image to a set of distinct fringe structures.

The often opportunistic nature of biological recording via citizen science leads to taxonomic, spatial and temporal biases which add uncertainty to biodiversity estimates. However, such biases may also give valuable insight into volunteers' recording behaviour. Using Greater London as a case-study we examined the composition of three citizen science datasets - from Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC, iSpot and iRecord - with respect to recorder contribution and spatial and taxonomic biases, i.e. when, where and what volunteers record. We found most volunteers contributed few records and were active for just one day. Each dataset had its own taxonomic and spatial signature suggesting that volunteers' personal recording preferences may attract them towards particular schemes. There were also patterns across datasets: species' abundance and ease of identification were positively associated with number of records, as was plant height. We found clear hotspots of recording activity, the 10 most popular sites containing open water. We note that biases are accrued as part of the recording process (e.g. species' detectability) as well as from volunteer preferences. An increased understanding of volunteer behaviour gained from analysing the composition of records could thus enhance the fit between volunteers' interests and the needs of scientific projects.

A set of four regional climate change projections over the Iberian Peninsula has been performed. Simulations were driven by two General Circulation Models (consisting of two versions of the same atmospheric model coupled to two different ocean models) under two different SRES scenario. The XXI century has been simulated following a full-transient approach with a climate version of the mesoscale model MM5. An Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis (EOF) is applied to the monthly mean series of daily maximum and minimum 2-metre temperature to extract the warming signal. The first EOF is able to capture the spatial structure of the warming. The obtained warming patterns are fairly dependent on the month, but hardly change with the tested scenarios and GCM versions. Their shapes are related to geographical parameters, such as distance to the sea and orography. The main differences among simulations mostly concern the temporal evolution of the warming. The temperature trend is stronger for maximum temperatures and depends on the scenario and the driving GCM. This asymmetry, as well as the different warming rates in summer and winter, leads to a continentalization of the climate over the IP. (orig.)

Full Text Available Castration can change levels of plasma testosterone. Androgens such as testosterone play an important role in stabilizing birdsong. The robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA is an important premotor nucleus critical for singing. In this study, we investigated the effect of castration on singing patterns and electrophysiological properties of projection neurons (PNs in the RA of adult male zebra finches. Adult male zebra finches were castrated and the changes in bird song assessed. We also recorded the electrophysiological changes from RA PNs using patch clamp recording. We found that the plasma levels of testosterone were significantly decreased, song syllable’s entropy was increased and the similarity of motif was decreased after castration. Spontaneous and evoked firing rates, membrane time constants, and membrane capacitance of RA PNs in the castration group were lower than those of the control and the sham groups. Afterhyperpolarization AHP time to peak of spontaneous action potential (AP was prolonged after castration.These findings suggest that castration decreases song stereotypy and excitability of RA PNs in male zebra finches.

This study assessed vegetation growth patterns, the potential impacts of vegetation growth on disposal cell cover integrity, and possible measures that could be taken to monitor and/or control plant growth, where necessary, on six Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project rock-covered disposal cells. A large-scale invasion of volunteer plants was observed on the Shiprock and Burrell disposal cells. Plant growth at the South Clive, Green River, and Tuba City disposal cells was sparse except for the south rock apron and south slope of the Tuba City disposal cell, where windblown sand had filled up part of the rock cover and plant growth was observed. The rock-covered topslope of the Collins Ranch disposal cell was intentionally covered with topsoil and vegetated. Plant roots growing on the disposal cells are changing the characteristics of the cover by drying out the radon barrier, encouraging the establishment of soil-building processes in the bedding and radon barrier layers, creating channels in the radon barrier, and facilitating ecological succession, which could lead to the establishment of additional deep-rooted plants on the disposal cells. If left unchecked, plant roots would reach the tailings at the Burrell and Collins Ranch disposal cells within a few years, likely resulting in the transport of contaminants out of the cells

Active target detection systems, where the gas used as the detection medium is also a target for nuclear reactions, have been used for a wide variety of nuclear physics applications since the eighties. Improvements in Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) and in micro-electronics achieved in the last decade permit the development of a new generation of active targets with higher granularity pad planes that allow spatial and time information to be determined with unprecedented accuracy. A novel active target and time projection chamber (ACTAR TPC), that will be used to study reactions and decays of exotic nuclei at facilities such as SPIRAL2, is presently under development and will be based on MPGD technology. Several MPGDs (Micromegas and Thick GEM) coupled to a 2×2 mm{sup 2} pixelated pad plane have been tested and their performances have been determined with different gases over a wide range of pressures. Of particular interest for nuclear physics experiments are the angular and energy resolutions. The angular resolution has been determined to be better than 1° FWHM for short traces of about 4 cm in length and the energy resolution deduced from the particle range was found to be better than 5% for 5.5 MeV α particles. These performances have been compared to Geant4 simulations. These experimental results validate the use of these detectors for several applications in nuclear physics.

Active target detection systems, where the gas used as the detection medium is also a target for nuclear reactions, have been used for a wide variety of nuclear physics applications since the eighties. Improvements in Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) and in micro-electronics achieved in the last decade permit the development of a new generation of active targets with higher granularity pad planes that allow spatial and time information to be determined with unprecedented accuracy. A novel active target and time projection chamber (ACTAR TPC), that will be used to study reactions and decays of exotic nuclei at facilities such as SPIRAL2, is presently under development and will be based on MPGD technology. Several MPGDs (Micromegas and Thick GEM) coupled to a 2×2 mm 2 pixelated pad plane have been tested and their performances have been determined with different gases over a wide range of pressures. Of particular interest for nuclear physics experiments are the angular and energy resolutions. The angular resolution has been determined to be better than 1° FWHM for short traces of about 4 cm in length and the energy resolution deduced from the particle range was found to be better than 5% for 5.5 MeV α particles. These performances have been compared to Geant4 simulations. These experimental results validate the use of these detectors for several applications in nuclear physics

A VISAR (Velocity Interferometer System for Any Reflector) is a Doppler velocity interferometer which is an important optical diagnostic in shockwave experiments at the national laboratories, used to measure equation of state (EOS) of materials under extreme conditions. Unwanted reflection of laser light from target windows can produce an additional component to the VISAR fringe record that can distort and obscure the true velocity signal. Accurately removing this so-called ghost artifact component is essential for achieving high accuracy EOS measurements, especially when the true light signal is only weakly reflected from the shock front. Independent of the choice of algorithm for processing the raw data into a complex fringe signal, we have found it beneficial to plot this signal as a Lissajous and seek the proper center of this path, even under time varying intensity which can shift the perceived center. The ghost contribution is then solved by a simple translation in the complex plane that recenters the Lissajous path. For continuous velocity histories, we find that plotting the fringe magnitude vs nonfringing intensity and optimizing linearity is an invaluable tool for determining accurate ghost offsets. For discontinuous velocity histories, we have developed graphically inspired methods which relate the results of two VISARs having different velocity per fringe proportionalities or assumptions of constant fringe magnitude to find the ghost offset. The technique can also remove window reflection artifacts in generic interferometers, such as in the metrology of surfaces.

Supermarkets are a key influence on eating behaviours, but it is unknown if the promotion of food within stores varies on a geographic gradient from urban, to urban-fringe and non-metropolitan areas. The present study aimed to assess the shelf space and strategic placement of healthy and discretionary foods in each of urban, urban-fringe and non-metropolitan Australian supermarkets. Design/Setting In-store audits were conducted in stores from one of the two major Australian supermarket chains in urban (n 19), urban-fringe (n 20) and non-metropolitan (n 26) areas of Victoria. These audits examined selected food items (crisps/chips, chocolate, confectionery, soft drinks/sodas, fruits and vegetables) and measured the shelf space and the proportion of end-of-aisle and cash register displays containing these products. Store size was measured as the sum of aisle length. Differences in the supermarket food environment with respect to location were assessed, before and after adjustment for neighbourhood socio-economic position. The strategic placement of discretionary foods was commonly observed in all supermarkets. Adjusting for store size (larger in urban-fringe and rural areas), urban stores had greater shelf space devoted to fruits and vegetables, and less checkouts with soft drinks, than urban-fringe and rural/non-metropolitan areas. Differences remained following adjustment for neighbourhood socio-economic position. No clear pattern was observed for end-of-aisle displays, or the placement of chocolate and confectionery at checkouts. The shelf space of healthy and discretionary foods in urban-fringe and rural stores parallels the prevalence of overweight and obesity in these areas. Interventions in urban-fringe and rural stores targeting the shelf space of healthy foods and the placement of soft drinks at key displays may be useful obesity prevention initiatives.

The need to protect people and property with a changing pattern of landslide hazard and risk caused by climate change and changes in demography, and the reality for societies in Europe to live with the risk associated with natural hazards, were the motives for the project SafeLand: "Living with landslide risk in Europe: Assessment, effects of global change, and risk management strategies." SafeLand is a large, integrating research project under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7). The project started on 1 May 2009 and will end on 30 April 2012. It involves 27 partners from 12 European countries, and has international collaborators and advisers from China, India, USA, Japan and Hong Kong. SafeLand also involves 25 End-Users from 11 countries. SafeLand is coordinated by the International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) at Norwegian Geotechnical Institute in Norway. Further information on the SafeLand project can be found at its web site http://safeland-fp7.eu/. Main results achieved in SafeLand include: - Various guidelines related to landslide triggering processes and run-out modelling. - Development and testing of several empirical methods for predicting the characteristics of threshold rainfall events for triggering of precipitation-induced landslides, and development of an empirical model for assessing the changes in landslide frequency (hazard) as a function of changes in the demography and population density. - Guideline for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk assessment and zoning. - New methodologies for physical and societal vulnerability assessment. - Identification of landslide hazard and risk hotspots for Europe. The results show clearly where areas with the largest landslide risk are located in Europe and the objective approach allows a ranking of the countries by exposed area and population. - Different regional and local climate model simulations over selected regions of Europe at spatial resolutions of 10x10 km and 2.8x2.8 km

A technique, associated system and program code, for retrieving depth information about at least one surface of an object, such as an anatomical feature. Core features include: projecting a composite image comprising a plurality of modulated structured light patterns, at the anatomical feature; capturing an image reflected from the surface; and recovering pattern information from the reflected image, for each of the modulated structured light patterns. Pattern information is preferably recovered for each modulated structured light pattern used to create the composite, by performing a demodulation of the reflected image. Reconstruction of the surface can be accomplished by using depth information from the recovered patterns to produce a depth map/mapping thereof. Each signal waveform used for the modulation of a respective structured light pattern, is distinct from each of the other signal waveforms used for the modulation of other structured light patterns of a composite image; these signal waveforms may be selected from suitable types in any combination of distinct signal waveforms, provided the waveforms used are uncorrelated with respect to each other. The depth map/mapping to be utilized in a host of applications, for example: displaying a 3-D view of the object; virtual reality user-interaction interface with a computerized device; face--or other animal feature or inanimate object--recognition and comparison techniques for security or identification purposes; and 3-D video teleconferencing/telecollaboration.

Full Text Available Near medium intense (NMI fringe is a kind of intense fringe which can be formed near Kerr medium in high-power laser beam propagation. The formation properties of NMI fringe and the relations between NMI fringe and related important parameters are systematically investigated. It is found that it is the co-existence of two wirelike phase-typed scatterers in the incident beam spot which is mainly responsible for the high intensity of NMI fringe. From the viewpoint of coherent superposition, the formation process of NMI fringe is analyzed, and the mechanism that NMI fringe is formed by the coherent superposition of the localized bright fringes in the exit field of Kerr medium slab is demonstrated. The fluctuations of NMI fringe properties with beam wavelength, scatterer spacing and object distance are studied, the coherence of NMI fringe are revealed, and the approximate periodicity of the appearance of remarkable NMI fringe for these parameters are obtained. Especially, it is found that the intensity of NMI fringe is very sensitive to scatterer spacing. Besides, the laws about how NMI fringe properties will be changed by the modulation properties of scatterers and the medium thickness are demonstrated. Keywords: High-power laser beam, Nonlinear propagation, Kerr medium, Small-scale scatterer, Nonlinear imaging

Near medium intense (NMI) fringe is a kind of intense fringe which can be formed near Kerr medium in high-power laser beam propagation. The formation properties of NMI fringe and the relations between NMI fringe and related important parameters are systematically investigated. It is found that it is the co-existence of two wirelike phase-typed scatterers in the incident beam spot which is mainly responsible for the high intensity of NMI fringe. From the viewpoint of coherent superposition, the formation process of NMI fringe is analyzed, and the mechanism that NMI fringe is formed by the coherent superposition of the localized bright fringes in the exit field of Kerr medium slab is demonstrated. The fluctuations of NMI fringe properties with beam wavelength, scatterer spacing and object distance are studied, the coherence of NMI fringe are revealed, and the approximate periodicity of the appearance of remarkable NMI fringe for these parameters are obtained. Especially, it is found that the intensity of NMI fringe is very sensitive to scatterer spacing. Besides, the laws about how NMI fringe properties will be changed by the modulation properties of scatterers and the medium thickness are demonstrated.

How can planning policies related to urban fringe development and disadvantaged neighbourhoods create synergy? This question is approached and answered by various research fields and explored on various urban-planning levels, displaying case-studies related to urban regeneration, post......-industrial and suburban development and urban fringe literature. The present paper adds to these discussions by analysing two case-studies in Denmark in which local government pursue traditional urban-growth strategies in urban-fringe development - a post-industrial harbour and a large suburb, located just outside...... analyses this synergy by first describing the legislative, interventionist and financial context for urban-growth strategies deployed in the cases. On this background, the paper explores synergy potential related to policy as well as private-sector actors (local businesses, social housing organizations...

A method to obtain unambiguous surface height measurements using wavelength scanning interferometry with an improved repeatability, comparable to that obtainable using phase shifting interferometry, is reported. Rather than determining the conventional fringe frequency-derived z height directly, the method uses the frequency to resolve the fringe order ambiguity, and combine this information with the more accurate and repeatable fringe phase derived z height. A theoretical model to evaluate the method's performance in the presence of additive noise is derived and shown to be in good agreement with experiments. The measurement repeatability is improved by a factor of ten over that achieved when using frequency information alone, reaching the sub-nanometre range. Moreover, the z-axis non-linearity (bleed-through or ripple error) is reduced by a factor of ten. These order of magnitude improvements in measurement performance are demonstrated through a number of practical measurement examples.

360 degrees (360°) digitalization of three dimensional (3D) solids using a projected light-strip is a well-established technique in academic and commercial profilometers. These profilometers project a light-strip over the digitizing solid while the solid is rotated a full revolution or 360-degrees. Then, a computer program typically extracts the centroid of this light-strip, and by triangulation one obtains the shape of the solid. Here instead of using intensity-based light-strip centroid estimation, we propose to use Fourier phase-demodulation for 360° solid digitalization. The advantage of Fourier demodulation over strip-centroid estimation is that the accuracy of phase-demodulation linearly-increases with the fringe density, while in strip-light the centroid-estimation errors are independent. Here we proposed first to construct a carrier-frequency fringe-pattern by closely adding the individual light-strip images recorded while the solid is being rotated. Next, this high-density fringe-pattern is phase-demodulated using the standard Fourier technique. To test the feasibility of this Fourier demodulation approach, we have digitized two solids with increasing topographic complexity: a Rubik's cube and a plastic model of a human-skull. According to our results, phase demodulation based on the Fourier technique is less noisy than triangulation based on centroid light-strip estimation. Moreover, Fourier demodulation also provides the amplitude of the analytic signal which is a valuable information for the visualization of surface details.

In this paper, a general phase retrieval method is proposed, which is based on one single interferogram with a small amount of fringes (either tilt or power). Zernike polynomials are used to characterize the phase to be measured; the phase distribution is reconstructed by a non-linear least squares method. Experiments show that the proposed method can obtain satisfactory results compared to the standard phase-shifting interferometry technique. Additionally, the retrace errors of proposed method can be neglected because of the few fringes; it does not need any auxiliary phase shifting facilities (low cost) and it is easy to implement without the process of phase unwrapping.

Argues that the provision of the same fringe benefits for all workers promotes labor market segmentation by inducing workers to sort themselves across the economy according to their demand for fringe benefits. (JOW)

We have designed and fabricated four LDA optical setups consisting of aberration compensated four different compact two hololens imaging systems. We have experimentally investigated and realized a hololens recording geometry which is interferogram of converging spherical wavefront with mutually coherent planar wavefront. Proposed real time monitoring and actual fringe field analysis techniques allow complete characterizations of fringes formed at measurement volume and permit to evaluate beam quality, alignment and fringe uniformity with greater precision. After experimentally analyzing the fringes formed at measurement volume by all four imaging systems, it is found that fringes obtained using compact two hololens imaging systems get improved both qualitatively and quantitatively compared to that obtained using conventional imaging system. Results indicate qualitative improvement of non-uniformity in fringe thickness and micro intensity variations perpendicular to the fringes, and quantitative improvement of 39.25% in overall average normalized standard deviations of fringe width formed by compact two hololens imaging systems compare to that of conventional imaging system.

In this paper, a dispersed-fringe-accumulation (DFA)-based left-subtract-right (LSR) piston estimation method (DFA-LSR), in which the dispersed fringe image is accumulated in the dispersed direction, and then the LSR method is used to estimate the piston error, is proposed for dispersed fringe sensors (DFS) in the fine co-phasing stage. The DFS is usually used to detect the piston errors (optical path difference) between different segmented mirrors or synthetic aperture telescopes. The DFA-LSR makes up for the shortcomings of the main peak position (MPP) method, which suffers from the constant offset in the pixel counts. The analysis and experiment results show that the proposed method can keep relatively better performance even at the condition of poor signal-to-noise ratio, compared with the MPP method in fine co-phasing stage.

Full Text Available Oceanic pH is projected to decrease by up to 0.5 units by 2100 (a process known as ocean acidification, OA, reducing the calcium carbonate saturation state of the oceans. The coastal ocean is expected to experience periods of even lower carbonate saturation state because of the inherent natural variability of coastal habitats. Thus, in order to accurately project the impact of OA on the coastal ocean, we must first understand its natural variability. The production of dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP by marine algae and the release of DMSP's breakdown product dimethylsulphide (DMS are often related to environmental stress. This study investigated the spatiotemporal response of tropical macroalgae (Padina sp., Amphiroa sp. and Turbinaria sp. and the overlying water column to natural changes in reefal carbonate chemistry. We compared macroalgal intracellular DMSP and water column DMSP+DMS concentrations between the environmentally stable reef crest and environmentally variable reef flat of the fringing Suleman Reef, Egypt, over 45-hour sampling periods. Similar diel patterns were observed throughout: maximum intracellular DMSP and water column DMS/P concentrations were observed at night, coinciding with the time of lowest carbonate saturation state. Spatially, water column DMS/P concentrations were highest over areas dominated by seagrass and macroalgae (dissolved DMS/P and phytoplankton (particulate DMS/P rather than corals. This research suggests that macroalgae may use DMSP to maintain metabolic function during periods of low carbonate saturation state. In the reef system, seagrass and macroalgae may be more important benthic producers of dissolved DMS/P than corals. An increase in DMS/P concentrations during periods of low carbonate saturation state may become ecologically important in the future under an OA regime, impacting larval settlement and increasing atmospheric emissions of DMS.

Wave‐driven water level variability (and runup at the shoreline) is a significant cause of coastal flooding induced by storms. Wave runup is challenging to predict, particularly along tropical coral reef‐fringed coastlines due to the steep bathymetric profiles and large bottom roughness generated by reef organisms, which can violate assumptions in conventional models applied to open sandy coastlines. To investigate the mechanisms of wave‐driven water level variability on a reef‐fringed coastline, we performed a set of laboratory flume experiments on an along‐shore uniform bathymetric profile with and without bottom roughness. Wave setup and waves at frequencies lower than the incident sea‐swell forcing (infragravity waves) were found to be the dominant components of runup. These infragravity waves were positively correlated with offshore wave groups, signifying they were generated in the surf zone by the oscillation of the breakpoint. On the reef flat and at the shoreline, the low‐frequency waves formed a standing wave pattern with energy concentrated at the natural frequencies of the reef flat, indicating resonant amplification. Roughness elements used in the flume to mimic large reef bottom roughness reduced low frequency motions on the reef flat and reduced wave run up by 30% on average, compared to the runs over a smooth bed. These results provide insight into sea‐swell and infragravity wave transformation and wave setup dynamics on steep‐sloped coastlines, and the effect that future losses of reef bottom roughness may have on coastal flooding along reef‐fringed coasts.

Purpose: The authors note that the concept of the Talbot self-image distance in x-ray phase grating interferometry is indeed not well defined for polychromatic x-rays, because both the grating phase shift and the fractional Talbot distances are all x-ray wavelength-dependent. For x-ray interferometry optimization, there is a need for a quantitative theory that is able to predict if a good intensity modulation is attainable at a given grating-to-detector distance. In this work, the authors set out to meet this need. Methods: In order to apply Fourier analysis directly to the intensity fringepatterns of two-dimensional and one-dimensional phase grating interferometers, the authors start their derivation from a general phase space theory of x-ray phase-contrast imaging. Unlike previous Fourier analyses, the authors evolved the Wigner distribution to obtain closed-form expressions of the Fourier coefficients of the intensity fringes for any grating-to-detector distance, even if it is not a fractional Talbot distance. Results: The developed theory determines the visibility of any diffraction order as a function of the grating-to-detector distance, the phase shift of the grating, and the x-ray spectrum. The authors demonstrate that the visibilities of diffraction orders can serve as the indicators of the underlying interference intensity modulation. Applying the theory to the conventional and inverse geometry configurations of single-grating interferometers, the authors demonstrated that the proposed theory provides a quantitative tool for the grating interferometer optimization with or without the Talbot-distance constraints. Conclusions: In this work, the authors developed a novel theory of the interference intensity fringes in phase grating x-ray interferometry. This theory provides a quantitative tool in design optimization of phase grating x-ray interferometers

The authors note that the concept of the Talbot self-image distance in x-ray phase grating interferometry is indeed not well defined for polychromatic x-rays, because both the grating phase shift and the fractional Talbot distances are all x-ray wavelength-dependent. For x-ray interferometry optimization, there is a need for a quantitative theory that is able to predict if a good intensity modulation is attainable at a given grating-to-detector distance. In this work, the authors set out to meet this need. In order to apply Fourier analysis directly to the intensity fringepatterns of two-dimensional and one-dimensional phase grating interferometers, the authors start their derivation from a general phase space theory of x-ray phase-contrast imaging. Unlike previous Fourier analyses, the authors evolved the Wigner distribution to obtain closed-form expressions of the Fourier coefficients of the intensity fringes for any grating-to-detector distance, even if it is not a fractional Talbot distance. The developed theory determines the visibility of any diffraction order as a function of the grating-to-detector distance, the phase shift of the grating, and the x-ray spectrum. The authors demonstrate that the visibilities of diffraction orders can serve as the indicators of the underlying interference intensity modulation. Applying the theory to the conventional and inverse geometry configurations of single-grating interferometers, the authors demonstrated that the proposed theory provides a quantitative tool for the grating interferometer optimization with or without the Talbot-distance constraints. In this work, the authors developed a novel theory of the interference intensity fringes in phase grating x-ray interferometry. This theory provides a quantitative tool in design optimization of phase grating x-ray interferometers.

Due to developments on the oil market in the 1970s, the theory of exhaustible resources was extended with the cartel-versus-fringe model to characterize markets with one big coherent cartel and a large number of small suppliers called the fringe. Because cartel and fringe are leader and follower,

We consider a nonrenewable resource game with one cartel and a set of fringe members. We show that (i) the outcomes of the closed-loop and the open-loop nonrenewable resource game with the fringe members as price takers (the cartel-fringe game à la Salant, 1976) coincide and (ii) when the number of

Fringes formed in a Michelson interferometer never localize in any plane, in the detector plane and in the localization plane. Instead, the fringes are assumed to localize at infinity. Except for some explanation in "Principles of Optics" by Born and Wolf (1964 (New York: Macmillan)), the fringe localization phenomena of Michelson's interferometer…

This monograph explores the major categories of alternative work patterns, e.g., flexitime, permanent part-time employment, job sharing, the compressed work week, and reduced work time. Advantages and disadvantages of each type are discussed, and new insight is offered into an unexplored dimension of the major types of alternative work patterns:…

...) so small as to make accounting for it unreasonable or administratively impracticable. (b) Frequency... of hours worked (e.g., $1.00 per hour for each hour over eight hours) be considered a de minimis... as a working condition fringe if the employee would not have had such special security design but for...

This report contains data collected from 275 Pennsylvania school districts for the 1978-79 school year. The data reflect policies and practices affecting fringe benefits for professional employees. The report is divided into three major sections. The first section presents comparative data for 30 variables on a statewide, size, and wealth basis.…

This report contains data collected from 275 Pennsylvania school districts for the 1977-78 school year. The data reflect policies and practices affecting fringe benefits for professional employees. The report is divided into three major sections. The first section presents comparative data for 30 variables on a statewide, size, and wealth basis.…

... exist unless the employee's employer establishes to the satisfaction of the Commissioner that an overall... example, threats are made on the life of an employee), the bona fide business-oriented security concern is... condition fringe. A “working condition fringe” is any property or service provided to an employee of an...

One of the forest fringe communities in Ghana where the rural livelihoods of the people have been compromised due to deforestation and climate change is the Offin basin. The removal of forests impacts on local climate, water availability, and livelihoods due to influence of forests on precipitation and water balance. Fluxes ...

in the interplay between the homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadenings are measured. Based on these experiments, a coherent control model describing the optical fringe contrast using different detection schemes, such as photoluminescence or four-wave mixing, is established. Significant spectral modulation...

A theory for determining one-dimensional ray deflections with the help of distorted Babinet fringes has been developed. An approach for investigating two-dimensional ray deflections has been presented. Applications of the techniques for the study of gradient index glass have been described.

A recently-introduced percolation theory for spin transport and magnetoresistance in organic semiconductors describes the effects of spin dynamics on hopping transport by considering changes in the effective density of hopping sites, a key quantity determining the properties of percolative transport. Increases in the spin-flip rate open up ``spin-blocked'' pathways to become viable conduction channels and hence, as the spin-flip rate changes with magnetic field, produce magnetoresistance. Features of this percolative magnetoresistance can be found analytically in several regimes, and agree with measurements of the shape and saturation of measured magnetoresistance curves. We find that the threshold hopping distance is analogous to the branching parameter of a phenomenological two-site model, and that the distinction between slow and fast hopping is contingent on the threshold hopping distance. Regimes of slow and fast hopping magnetoresistance are uniquely characterized by their line shapes. Studies of magnetoresistance in known systems with controllable positional disorder would provide an additional stringent test of this theory. Extensions to this theory also describe fringe-field magnetoresistance, which is the influence of fringe magnetic fields from a nearby unsaturated magnetic electrode on the conductance of an organic film. This theory agrees with several key features of the experimental fringe-field magnetoresistance, including the applied fields where the magnetoresistance reaches extrema, the applied field range of large magnetoresistance effects from the fringe fields, and the sign of the effect. All work done in collaboration with N. J. Harmon, and fringe-field magnetoresistance work in collaboration also with F. Macià, F. Wang, M. Wohlgenannt and A. D. Kent. This work was supported by an ARO MURI.

The educational applications of wikis are becoming very popular among instructors and researchers and they have captured their attention and imagination. This paper reports on the investigation of a wiki project designed to support university students' collaborative authoring and learning. The design framework of the wiki-based project is outlined…

Measuring the interaction between agents and institutions poses a number of challenges. The paper provides data and results from a project in political science aimed at representing the problem spaces described by organization members in depicting decision situations with high levels of procedural

This work describes the measurement procedure and principles of a sampling moiré technique for full-field micro/nano-scale deformation measurements. The developed technique can be performed in two ways: using the reconstructed multiplication moiré method or the spatial phase-shifting sampling moiré method. When the specimen grid pitch is around 2 pixels, 2-pixel sampling moiré fringes are generated to reconstruct a multiplication moiré pattern for a deformation measurement. Both the displacement and strain sensitivities are twice as high as in the traditional scanning moiré method in the same wide field of view. When the specimen grid pitch is around or greater than 3 pixels, multi-pixel sampling moiré fringes are generated, and a spatial phase-shifting technique is combined for a full-field deformation measurement. The strain measurement accuracy is significantly improved, and automatic batch measurement is easily achievable. Both methods can measure the two-dimensional (2D) strain distributions from a single-shot grid image without rotating the specimen or scanning lines, as in traditional moiré techniques. As examples, the 2D displacement and strain distributions, including the shear strains of two carbon fiber-reinforced plastic specimens, were measured in three-point bending tests. The proposed technique is expected to play an important role in the non-destructive quantitative evaluations of mechanical properties, crack occurrences, and residual stresses of a variety of materials.

The shift of the interference fringe in the Michelson interferometer is absent in vacuum but present in measurements performed in dielectric media with the refractive index greater than unity. This experimental observation induced me to interpret physical processes occurred in the Michelson interferometer in a conceptually new way. I rejected the generally accepted additive rule c±v for composition of the velocity v of the inertial body and the speed c of light as inapplicable in principle to non-inertial objects which electromagnetic waves just belong to. I used instead the non-relativistic formula of Fresnel for drag of light by a moving optical medium. This formula, and taking into account the physical effect of Lorentz contraction of the arm of interferometer, enabled me to construct the theoretical model that reproduces in essential features the parabolic dependence of the shift of the interference fringe on the dielectric permittivity of the light-carrying material. The Earth's speed relative to aether found from the experimental curve was estimated as 140-480 km/s. The range of the values refers to the projection of the speed on the horizontal plane of the experimental setup measured at various time of day and night.

Shadow and projection moiré are the oldest forms of moiré to be used in actual technical applications. In spite of this fact and the extensive number of papers that have been published on this topic, the use of shadow moiré as an accurate tool that can compete with alternative devices poses very many problems that go to the very essence of the mathematical models used to obtain contour information from fringepattern data. In this paper some recent developments on the projection moiré method are presented. Comparisons between the results obtained with the projection method and the results obtained by mechanical devices that operate with contact probes are presented. These results show that the use of projection moiré makes it possible to achieve the same accuracy that current mechanical touch probe devices can provide.

differences were observed across centres, the countries participating in EPIC are characterised by specific dietary patterns. Overall, Italy and Greece have a dietary pattern characterised by plant foods (except potatoes) and a lower consumption of animal and processed foods, compared with the other EPIC...... countries. France and particularly Spain have more heterogeneous dietary patterns, with a relatively high consumption of both plant foods and animal products. Apart from characteristics specific to vegetarian groups, the UK 'health-conscious' group shares with the UK general population a relatively high...... consumption of tea, sauces, cakes, soft drinks (women), margarine and butter. In contrast, the diet in the Nordic countries, The Netherlands, Germany and the UK general population is relatively high in potatoes and animal, processed and sweetened/refined foods, with proportions varying across countries...

countries. France and particularly Spain have more heterogeneous dietary patterns, with a relatively high consumption of both plant foods and animal products. Apart from characteristics specific to vegetarian groups, the UK 'health-conscious' group shares with the UK general population a relatively high....../centres. In these countries, consumption of vegetables and fruit is similar to, or below, the overall EPIC means, and is low for legumes and vegetable oils. Overall, dietary patterns were similar for men and women, although there were large gender differences for certain food groups. CONCLUSIONS: There are considerable...

Objective: To describe the diversity in dietary patterns existing across centres/regions participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Design and setting: Single 24-hour dietary recall measurements were obtained by means of standardised face-to-face

Advanced split-illumination electron holography was developed by employing two biprisms in the illuminating system to split an electron wave into two coherent waves and two biprisms in the imaging system to overlap them. A focused image of an upper condenser-biprism filament was formed on the sample plane, and all other filaments were placed in its shadow. This developed system makes it possible to obtain precise reconstructed object waves without modulations due to Fresnel fringes, in addition to holograms of distant objects from reference waves. - Highlights: • Advanced split-illumination electron holography without Fresnel fringes is developed. • Two biprisms are installed in illuminating system of microscope. • High-precision holographic observations of an area locating far from the sample edge become possible.

Advanced split-illumination electron holography was developed by employing two biprisms in the illuminating system to split an electron wave into two coherent waves and two biprisms in the imaging system to overlap them. A focused image of an upper condenser-biprism filament was formed on the sample plane, and all other filaments were placed in its shadow. This developed system makes it possible to obtain precise reconstructed object waves without modulations due to Fresnel fringes, in addition to holograms of distant objects from reference waves. - Highlights: • Advanced split-illumination electron holography without Fresnel fringes is developed. • Two biprisms are installed in illuminating system of microscope. • High-precision holographic observations of an area locating far from the sample edge become possible

This paper deals with the digital numerical reconstruction of Young's fringes from laser speckle photography by means of the Fresnel-transformation. The physical model of the optical reconstruction of a specklegram is a near-field Fresnel-diffraction phenomenon which can be mathematically described by the Fresnel-transformation. Therefore, the interference phenomena can be directly calculated by a microcomputer.If additional a CCD-camera is used for specklegram recording the measurement procedure and evaluation process can be completely carried out in a digital way. Compared with conventional laser speckle photography no holographic plates, no wet development process and no optical specklegram reconstruction are needed. These advantages reveal a wide future in scientific and engineering applications. The basic principle of the numerical reconstruction is described, the effects of experimental parameters of Young's fringes are analyzed and representative results are presented.

The present paper deals with a detailed analysis of cortical projections from the magnocellular basal nucleus (MBN) and horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca (HDB) in the rat. The MBN and HDB were injected iontophoretically with the anterograde tracer Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin

Biodegradation of continuously emitted plumes is known to be most pronounced at the plume fringe, where mixing of contaminated water and ambient groundwater, containing dissolved electron acceptors, stimulates microbial activity. Under steady-state conditions, physical mixing of contaminant and electron acceptor by transverse dispersion was shown to be the major bottleneck for biodegradation, with plume lengths scaling inversely with the bulk transverse dispersivity in quasi two-dimensional settings. Under these conditions, the presence of suitable microbes is essential but the biokinetic parameters do not play an important role. When the location of the plume shifts (caused, e.g., by a fluctuating groundwater table), however, the bacteria are no more situated at the plume fringe and biomass growth, decay, activation and deactivation determine the time lag until the fringe-controlled steady state is approached again. During this time lag, degradation is incomplete. The objective of the presented study was to analyze to which extent flow and transport dynamics diminish effectiveness of fringe-controlled biodegradation and which microbial processes and related biokinetic parameters determine the system response in overall degradation to hydraulic fluctuations. We performed experiments in quasi-two-dimensional flow through microcosms on aerobic toluene degradation by Pseudomonas putida F1. Plume dynamics were simulated by vertical alteration of the toluene plume position and experimental results were analyzed by reactive-transport modeling. We found that, even after disappearance of the toluene plume for two weeks, the majority of microorganisms stayed attached to the sediment and regained their full biodegradation potential within two days after reappearance of the toluene plume. Our results underline that besides microbial growth and maintenance (often subsumed as "biomass decay") microbial dormancy (that is, change into a metabolically inactive state) and

, are characterised by widely differing drinking habits and frequencies of alcohol-related diseases. Methods: We collected a single standardised 24-hour dietary recall per subject from a random sample of the EPIC cohort (36 900 persons initially and 35 955 after exclusion of subjects under 35 and over 74 years of age......). This provided detailed information on the distribution of alcohol consumption during the day in relation to main meals, and was used to determine weekly consumption patterns. The crude and adjusted (by age, day of week and season) means of total ethanol consumption and consumption according to type of beverage...... were stratified by centre and sex. Results: Sex was a strong determinant of drinking patterns in all 10 countries. The highest total alcohol consumption was observed in the Spanish centres (San Sebastian, 41.4 g day−1) for men and in Danish centres (Copenhagen, 20.9 g day−1) for women. The lowest total...

A fresh phase unwrapping algorithm based on iterated unscented Kalman filter is proposed to estimate unambiguous unwrapped phase of interferometric fringes. This method is the result of combining an iterated unscented Kalman filter with a robust phase gradient estimator based on amended matrix pencil model, and an efficient quality-guided strategy based on heap sort. The iterated unscented Kalman filter that is one of the most robust methods under the Bayesian theorem frame in non-linear signal processing so far, is applied to perform simultaneously noise suppression and phase unwrapping of interferometric fringes for the first time, which can simplify the complexity and the difficulty of pre-filtering procedure followed by phase unwrapping procedure, and even can remove the pre-filtering procedure. The robust phase gradient estimator is used to efficiently and accurately obtain phase gradient information from interferometric fringes, which is needed for the iterated unscented Kalman filtering phase unwrapping model. The efficient quality-guided strategy is able to ensure that the proposed method fast unwraps wrapped pixels along the path from the high-quality area to the low-quality area of wrapped phase images, which can greatly improve the efficiency of phase unwrapping. Results obtained from synthetic data and real data show that the proposed method can obtain better solutions with an acceptable time consumption, with respect to some of the most used algorithms.

In the study of information flow in the nervous system, component processes can be investigated using a range of electrophysiological and imaging techniques. Although data is difficult and expensive to produce, it is rarely shared and collaboratively exploited. The Code Analysis, Repository and Modelling for e-Neuroscience (CARMEN) project addresses this challenge through the provision of a virtual neuroscience laboratory: an infrastructure for sharing data, tools and services. Central to the CARMEN concept are federated CARMEN nodes, which provide: data and metadata storage, new, thirdparty and legacy services, and tools. In this paper, we describe the CARMEN project as well as the node infrastructure and an associated thick client tool for pattern visualisation and searching, the Signal Data Explorer (SDE). We also discuss new spike detection methods, which are central to the services provided by CARMEN. The SDE is a client application which can be used to explore data in the CARMEN repository, providing data visualization, signal processing and a pattern matching capability. It performs extremely fast pattern matching and can be used to search for complex conditions composed of many different patterns across the large datasets that are typical in neuroinformatics. Searches can also be constrained by specifying text based metadata filters. Spike detection services which use wavelet and morphology techniques are discussed, and have been shown to outperform traditional thresholding and template based systems. A number of different spike detection and sorting techniques will be deployed as services within the CARMEN infrastructure, to allow users to benchmark their performance against a wide range of reference datasets.

The Mathematical Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis (MPRIA) Project is concerned with basic research problems related to the study of he Earth from remotely sensed measurements of its surface characteristics. The program goal is to better understand how to analyze the digital image that represents the spatial, spectral, and temporal arrangement of these measurements for purposing of making selected inferences about the Earth. This report summarizes the progress that has been made toward this program goal by each of the principal investigators in the MPRIA Program.

Understanding the time frame in which ecosystem services (that is, water quality maintenance, shoreline protection, habitat provision) are expected to be provided is important when restoration projects are being designed and implemented. Restoration of three-dimensional shell habitats in coastal Louisiana and elsewhere presents a valuable and potentially self-sustaining approach to providing shoreline protection, enhancing nekton habitat, and providing water quality maintenance. As with most restoration projects, the development of expected different ecosystem services often occurs over varying time frames, with some services provided immediately and others taking longer to develop. This project was designed initially to compare the provision and development of ecosystem services by created fringing shoreline reefs in subtidal and intertidal environments in Vermilion Bay, Louisiana. Specifically, the goal was to test the null hypothesis that over time, the oyster recruitment and development of a sustainable oyster reef community would be similar at both intertidal and subtidal reef bases, and these sustainable reefs would in time provide similar shoreline stabilization, nekton habitat, and water quality services over similar time frames. Because the ecosystem services hypothesized to be provided by oyster reefs reflect long-term processes, fully testing the above-stated null hypothesis requires a longer-time frame than this project allowed. As such, this project was designed to provide the initial data on reef development and provision of ecosystem services, to identify services that may develop immediately, and to provide baseline data to allow for longer-term follow up studies tracking reef development over time. Unfortunately, these initially created reef bases (subtidal, intertidal) were not constructed as planned because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010, which resulted in reef duplicates being created 6 months apart. Further confounding the

Bragg projection ptychography (BPP) is a coherent diffraction imaging technique capable of mapping the spatial distribution of the Bragg structure factor in nanostructured thin films. Here, we show that, because these images are projections, the structural sensitivity of the resulting images depends on the film thickness and the aspect ratio and orientation of the features of interest and that image interpretation depends on these factors. Lastly, we model changes in contrast in the BPP reconstructions of simulated PbTiO_3 ferroelectric thin films with meandering 180° stripe domains as a function of film thickness, discuss their origin, and comment on the implication of these factors on the design of BPP experiments of general nanostructured films.

Coordinated migration of distinct classes of neurons to appropriate positions leads to the formation of functional neuronal circuitry in the cerebral cortex. Two major classes of cortical neurons, interneurons and projection neurons, utilize distinctly different modes (radial vs. tangential) and routes of migration to arrive at their final positions in the cerebral cortex. Here, we show that adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) modulates microtubule (MT) severing in interneurons to facilitate tangential mode of interneuron migration, but not the glial-guided, radial migration of projection neurons. APC regulates the stability and activity of the MT severing protein p60-katanin in interneurons to promote the rapid remodeling of neuronal processes necessary for interneuron migration. These findings reveal how severing and restructuring of MTs facilitate distinct modes of neuronal migration necessary for laminar organization of neurons in the developing cerebral cortex. PMID:25535916

In larval lamprey, partial lesions were made in the rostral spinal cord to determine which spinal tracts are important for descending activation of locomotion and to identify descending brain neurons that project in these tracts. In whole animals and in vitro brain/spinal cord preparations, brain-initiated spinal locomotor activity was present when the lateral or intermediate spinal tracts were spared but usually was abolished when the medial tracts were spared. We previously showed that descending brain neurons are located in eleven cell groups, including reticulospinal (RS) neurons in the mesenecephalic reticular nucleus (MRN) as well as the anterior (ARRN), middle (MRRN), and posterior (PRRN) rhombencephalic reticular nuclei. Other descending brain neurons are located in the diencephalic (Di) as well as the anterolateral (ALV), dorsolateral (DLV), and posterolateral (PLV) vagal groups. In the present study, the Mauthner and auxillary Mauthner cells, most neurons in the Di, ALV, DLV, and PLV cell groups, and some neurons in the ARRN and PRRN had crossed descending axons. The majority of neurons projecting in medial spinal tracts included large identified Müller cells and neurons in the Di, MRN, ALV, and DLV. Axons of individual descending brain neurons usually did not switch spinal tracts, have branches in multiple tracts, or cross the midline within the rostral cord. Most neurons that projected in the lateral/intermediate spinal tracts were in the ARRN, MRRN, and PRRN. Thus, output neurons of the locomotor command system are distributed in several reticular nuclei, whose neurons project in relatively wide areas of the cord. PMID:20510243

Full Text Available The benefits of project, program, and portfolio management software toolsets can be enhanced through training. Little is known about the realization of positive, beneficial outcomes and Project Management Information System (PMIS training. This research seeks to improve understanding of project management software toolset training practices and outcomes. This study examines the prevalence, effectiveness, and impact-per-hour efficiency of training in real-world organizations. We further explore relationships between individual and organizational characteristics and training outcomes. Formulae for estimating training costs are derived using regression modeling. Surveys were collected from 1,021 active professionals and analyzed using quantitative methods. Research participants were practitioners recruited by eight different companies, industry groups, and professional organizations within the PMIS community. The findings of this research indicate significant differences in utilization, efficacy, and efficiency of PMIS training in practice. The outcomes and methodologies of this study are being incorporated into ongoing research that focuses on improving PMIS training delivery, evaluation, and planning. The outcomes of this research may result in more effective, efficient, and economical PMIS training that is better tailored to the unique needs of each organization.

Chronic kidney disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. We used cluster analysis to explore patterns of chronic kidney disease in 500 of the largest US cities. After adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics, we found that unhealthy behaviors, prevention measures, and health outcomes related to chronic kidney disease differ between cities in Utah and those in the rest of the United States. Cluster analysis can be useful for identifying geographic regions that may have important policy implications for preventing chronic kidney disease.

In this paper, an accurate and high-speed method for auto-processing of Young's fringes is proposed. A group of 1-D sampled intensity values along three or more different directions are taken from Young's fringes, and the fringe spacings of each direction are obtained by 1-D FFT respectively. Two directions that have smaller fringe spacing are selected from all directions. The accurate fringe spacings along these two directions are obtained by using orthogonal coherent phase detection technique (OCPD). The actual spacing and angle of Young's fringes, therefore, can be calculated. In this paper, the principle of OCPD is introduced in detail. The accuracy of the method is evaluated theoretically and experimentally.

In some plasma discharges, the phase measured by microwave reflectometry has many fringe (2π radians) jumps. A new algorithm to detect and remove fringe jumps has been developed, and applied to the data in the JIPP TII-U tokamak. Using this algorithm, quantitative properties of fringe jumps, and their effects on the analysis of phase fluctuations are investigated. It was found that the occurrence of fringe jumps obeys a Poisson process, and the time scale of jumps is distributed over a wide range. Fringe jumps affect mainly the low-frequency components of phase fluctuations. Comparison of the phase corrected by the algorithm and the phase calculated from the time smoothed signals indicates that time smoothing (or frequency filtering) is an effective way to obtain information concerning the macroscopic density profile. Fringe jump and phase runaway can be phenomenologically explained by the distribution of the complex amplitude of the reflected wave. (author)

In this study, a method to construct a full-colour volumetric display is presented using a commercially available inkjet printer. Photoreactive luminescence materials are minutely and automatically printed as the volume elements, and volumetric displays are constructed with high resolution using easy-to-fabricate means that exploit inkjet printing technologies. The results experimentally demonstrate the first prototype of an inkjet printing-based volumetric display composed of multiple layers of transparent films that yield a full-colour three-dimensional (3D) image. Moreover, we propose a design algorithm with 3D structures that provide multiple different 2D full-colour patterns when viewed from different directions and experimentally demonstrate prototypes. It is considered that these types of 3D volumetric structures and their fabrication methods based on widely deployed existing printing technologies can be utilised as novel information display devices and systems, including digital signage, media art, entertainment and security.

High contrast proton moire fringes have been obtained in a laser-produced proton beam. Moire fringes with modulation of 20%-30% were observed in protons with energies in the range of 4-7 MeV. Monte Carlo simulations with simple test fields showed that shifts in the moire fringes can be used to give quantitative information on the strength of transient electromagnetic fields inside plasmas and materials that are opaque to conventional probing methods

Assessment of interfacial structures from high-resolution TEM images of cross-sectional specimens is difficult due to Fresnel fringe effects producing different apparent structures in the images. The effects of these fringes have been commonly over-looked in efforts of making quantitative interpretation of interfacial profiles. In this report, we present the observations of the Fresnel fringes in nanometer period Mo/Si, W/C, and WC/C multilayers in through-focus-series TEM images. Calculation...

We report the decomposition of the enhanced backscattering cone into its constitutive interference fringes. These fringes are due to the constructive interference between reciprocal paths of any multiply scattered wave after ensemble averaging. An optical setup combining a two-point continuous-wave illumination and matching detection allows the observation of the fringes and, therefore, the quantitative characterization of the Green's function for light propagation between the two points in a multiple-scattering media.

There are concerns that Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) may fail to deliver potential biodiversity cobenefits if it is focused on high carbon areas. We explored the spatial overlaps between carbon stocks, biodiversity, projected deforestation threats, and the location of REDD+ projects in Indonesia, a tropical country at the forefront of REDD+ development. For biodiversity, we assembled data on the distribution of terrestrial vertebrates (ranges of amphibians, mammals, birds, reptiles) and plants (species distribution models for 8 families). We then investigated congruence between different measures of biodiversity richness and carbon stocks at the national and subnational scales. Finally, we mapped active REDD+ projects and investigated the carbon density and potential biodiversity richness and modeled deforestation pressures within these forests relative to protected areas and unprotected forests. There was little internal overlap among the different hotspots (richest 10% of cells) of species richness. There was also no consistent spatial congruence between carbon stocks and the biodiversity measures: a weak negative correlation at the national scale masked highly variable and nonlinear relationships island by island. Current REDD+ projects were preferentially located in areas with higher total species richness and threatened species richness but lower carbon densities than protected areas and unprotected forests. Although a quarter of the total area of these REDD+ projects is under relatively high deforestation pressure, the majority of the REDD+ area is not. In Indonesia at least, first-generation REDD+ projects are located where they are likely to deliver biodiversity benefits. However, if REDD+ is to deliver additional gains for climate and biodiversity, projects will need to focus on forests with the highest threat to deforestation, which will have cost implications for future REDD+ implementation. Los Patrones Espaciales

Full Text Available The ectomycorrhizal (ECM symbiosis connects mutualistic plants and fungal species into bipartite networks. While links between one focal ECM plant and its fungal symbionts have been widely documented, systemic views of ECM networks are lacking, in particular, concerning the ability of fungal species to mediate indirect ecological interactions between ECM plant species (projected-ECM networks. We assembled a large dataset of plant-fungi associations at the species level and at the scale of Corsica using molecular data and unambiguously host-assigned records to: (i examine the correlation between the number of fungal symbionts of a plant species and the average specialization of these fungal species, (ii explore the structure of the plant-plant projected network and (iii compare plant association patterns in regard to their position along the ecological succession. Our analysis reveals no trade-off between specialization of plants and specialization of their partners and a saturation of the plant projected network. Moreover, there is a significantly lower-than-expected sharing of partners between early- and late-successional plant species, with fewer fungal partners for early-successional ones and similar average specialization of symbionts of early- and late-successional plants. Our work paves the way for ecological readings of Mediterranean landscapes that include the astonishing diversity of below-ground interactions.

By using X-rays from synchrotron radiation, we measured the rocking curves due to only the imaginary part of the atomic scattering factor in Laue case. The interference fringes are observed which are totally different from the Pendelloesung fringe. The fringes of the diffracted and transmitted rocking curves are in-phase with each other. We studied the origin of the in-phase fringes by using the complex dispersion surface and the electric field in the crystal, and also the relation with a coupled pendulum. (Abstract Copyright [2009], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

..., for waves propagating over fringing reefs. The model evaluation had two goals: (a) investigate differences between laboratory and field characteristics of wave transformation processes over reefs, and (b...

We have observed the interference fringes that are in phase with each other in the diffracted and transmitted rocking curves of GaAs 200 reflection near the K-absorption edge of As. The fringes are in contrast with the well-known Pendelloesung fringes that are anti-phase with each other in the diffracted and transmitted waves. The origin of the in-phase interference fringe is analyzed to be due to the diffraction only by the imaginary part of the atomic scattering factor. It is also shown that the interference fringes become typical Pendelloesung fringes when the diffraction is caused only by the real part. (author)

The BRAIN project recently announced by the president Obama is the reflection of unrelenting human quest for cracking the brain code, the patterns of neuronal activity that define who we are and what we are. While the Brain Activity Mapping proposal has rightly emphasized on the need to develop new technologies for measuring every spike from every neuron, it might be helpful to consider both the theoretical and experimental aspects that would accelerate our search for the organizing principles of the brain code. Here we share several insights and lessons from the similar proposal, namely, Brain Decoding Project that we initiated since 2007. We provide a specific example in our initial mapping of real-time memory traces from one part of the memory circuit, namely, the CA1 region of the mouse hippocampus. We show how innovative behavioral tasks and appropriate mathematical analyses of large datasets can play equally, if not more, important roles in uncovering the specific-to-general feature-coding cell assembly mechanism by which episodic memory, semantic knowledge, and imagination are generated and organized. Our own experiences suggest that the bottleneck of the Brain Project is not only at merely developing additional new technologies, but also the lack of efficient avenues to disseminate cutting edge platforms and decoding expertise to neuroscience community. Therefore, we propose that in order to harness unique insights and extensive knowledge from various investigators working in diverse neuroscience subfields, ranging from perception and emotion to memory and social behaviors, the BRAIN project should create a set of International and National Brain Decoding Centers at which cutting-edge recording technologies and expertise on analyzing large datasets analyses can be made readily available to the entire community of neuroscientists who can apply and schedule to perform cutting-edge research.

Physical experiments were conducted to investigate the transport of a dissolved volatile organic compound (trichloroethylene, TCE) from shallow groundwater to the unsaturated zone under a variety of conditions including changes in the soil moisture profile and water table position. Experimental data indicated that at moderate groundwater velocities (0.1 m/d), vertical mechanical dispersion was negligible and molecular diffusion was the dominant vertical transport mechanism. Under these conditions, TCE concentrations decreased nearly 3 orders of magnitude across the capillary fringe and soil gas concentrations remained low relative to those of underlying groundwater. Data collected during a water table drop showed a short-term increase in concentrations throughout most of the unsaturated zone, but these concentrations quickly declined and approached initial values after the water table was returned to its original level. In the deep part of the unsaturated zone, the water table drop resulted in a long-term decrease in concentrations, illustrating the effects of hysteresis in the soil moisture profile. A two-dimensional random walk advection-diffusion model was developed to simulate the experimental conditions, and numerical simulations agreed well with experimental data. A simpler, one-dimensional finite-difference diffusion-dispersion model was also developed. One-dimensional simulations based on molecular diffusion also agreed well with experimental data. Simulations which incorporated mechanical dispersion tended to overestimate flux across the capillary fringe. Good agreement between the one- and two-dimensional models suggested that a simple, one-dimensional approximation of vertical transport across the capillary fringe can be useful when conditions are appropriate.

Full Text Available This paper presents an analysis of data collected through the Waterloo WeBike project: a field trial in which over 30 sensor-equipped electric bicycles (e-bikes were given to members of the University of Waterloo for personal use. Our dataset includes e-bike trips and battery charging sessions spanning nearly three years, from summer 2014 until spring 2017. We also conducted three surveys both before and during the trial. Our main findings were that the primary purpose of the e-bikes in our trial was for commuting, with most trips lasting less than 20 minutes and most trips taking place in the summer months. Our battery charging analysis revealed no evidence of range anxiety, and our analysis of survey results showed little correlation between anticipated and actual use. Furthermore, when asked about their opinions about various modes of transportation, our participants rated regular bicycles higher than e-bikes even after becoming familiar with e-bikes through the field trial. Based on our analysis, we draw several conclusions, including the fact that the general population in Canada is still unaware of e-bikes and their potential. Moreover, e-bike manufacturers should target sales to nonbike users, such as seniors, rather than trying to displace sales of regular bicycles.

The use of different pupils for storing each speckled image in speckle photography is employed to determine multiple in-plane rotations. The method consists of recording a four-exposure specklegram where the rotations are done between exposures. This specklegram is then optically processed in a whole field approach rendering isothetic fringes, which give detailed information about the multiple rotations. It is experimentally demonstrated that the proposed arrangement permits the depiction of six isothetics in order to measure either six different angles or three nonparallel components for two local general in-plane displacements

The resonance frequency-space and the frequency gradient-space relations are evaluated analytically for the static fringe magnetic field of superconducting magnets used in the NMR diffusion measurements. The model takes into account the actual design of the high-homogeneity magnet coil system that consists of the main coil and the cryoshim coils and enables a precise calibration of the on-axis magnetic field gradient and the resonance frequency inside and outside of the superconducting coil. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

Full Text Available Abstract Background In Brazil, 99% of malaria cases are concentrated in the Amazon, and malaria's spatial distribution is commonly associated with socio-environmental conditions on a fine landscape scale. In this study, the spatial patterns of malaria and its determinants in a rural settlement of the Brazilian agricultural reform programme called "Vale do Amanhecer" in the northern Mato Grosso state were analysed. Methods In a fine-scaled, exploratory ecological study, geocoded notification forms corresponding to malaria cases from 2005 were compared with spectral indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI and the third component of the Tasseled Cap Transformation (TC_3 and thematic layers, derived from the visual interpretation of multispectral TM-Landsat 5 imagery and the application of GIS distance operators. Results Of a total of 336 malaria cases, 102 (30.36% were caused by Plasmodium falciparum and 174 (51.79% by Plasmodium vivax. Of all the cases, 37.6% (133 cases were from residents of a unique road. In total, 276 cases were reported for the southern part of the settlement, where the population density is higher, with notification rates higher than 10 cases per household. The local landscape mostly consists of open areas (38.79 km². Training forest occupied 27.34 km² and midsize vegetation 7.01 km². Most domiciles with more than five notified malaria cases were located near areas with high NDVI values. Most domiciles (41.78% and malaria cases (44.94% were concentrated in areas with intermediate values of the TC_3, a spectral index representing surface and vegetation humidity. Conclusions Environmental factors and their alteration are associated with the occurrence and spatial distribution of malaria cases in rural settlements.

Full Text Available Wave-induced extreme water levels in the Puerto Morelos fringing reef lagoon are investigated by means of a phase-resolving non-hydrostatic wave model (SWASH. This model solves the nonlinear shallow water equations including non-hydrostatic pressure. The one-dimensional version of the model is implemented in order to investigate wave transformation in fringing reefs. Firstly, the numerical model is validated with (i laboratory experiments conducted on a physical model (Demirbilek et al., 2007and (ii field observations (Coronado et al., 2007. Numerical results show good agreement with both experimental and field data. The comparison against the physical model results, for energetic wave conditions, indicates that high- and low-frequency wave transformation is well reproduced. Moreover, extreme water-level conditions measured during the passage of Hurricane Ivan in Puerto Morelos are also estimated by the numerical tool. Subsequently, the model is implemented at different along-reef locations in Puerto Morelos. Extreme water levels, wave-induced setup, and infragravity wave energy are estimated inside the reef lagoon for different storm wave conditions (Hs >2 m. The numerical results revealed a strong correlation between the offshore sea-swell wave energy and the setup. In contrast, infragravity waves are shown to be the result of a more complex pattern which heavily relies on the reef geometry. Indeed, the southern end of the reef lagoon provides evidence of resonance excitation, suggesting that the reef barrier may act as either a natural flood protection morphological feature, or as an inundation hazard enhancer depending on the incident wave conditions.

Full Text Available This paper reports on results from two major research projects conducted in South Australia. The first investigates adaptation to climate change in two of the state’s major grain and sheep farming regions, using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The second uses a postal questionnaire and an internet-based survey of residents in the peri-urban fringes of Adelaide, the state capital, to examine knowledge of and attitudes to climate change and resulting adaptations, especially in the context of increasing risk of wildfires. The research on adaptation to climate change in agriculture focused on formal institutions (e.g., government agencies and communities of practice (e.g., farm systems groups. Both groups noted that farmers autonomously adapt to various risks, including those induced by climate variability. The types and levels of adaptation varied among individuals partly because of barriers to adaptation, which included limited communication and engagement processes established between formal institutions and communities of practice. The paper discusses possibilities for more effective transfers of knowledge and information on climate change among formal institutions, communities of practice, trusted individual advisors and farmers. Research in the peri-urban fringe revealed that actions taken by individuals to mitigate and/or adapt to climate change were linked to the nature of environmental values held (or ecological worldview and place attachment. Individuals with a strong place attachment to the study area (the Adelaide Hills who possessed knowledge of and/or beliefs in climate change were most likely to take mitigating actions. This was also linked to previous experience of major risk from wildfires. The paper concludes by discussing prospects for developing co-management for reducing the impact of climate change across multiple groups in rural and peri-urban areas.

The recent widespread mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak in the Southern Rocky Mountains presents an opportunity to investigate the relative influence of anthropogenic, biologic, and physical drivers that have shaped the spatiotemporal patterns of the outbreak. The aim of this study was to quantify the landscape-level drivers that explained the dynamic patterns of MPB mortality, and simulate areas with future potential MPB mortality under projected climate-change scenarios in Grand County, Colorado, USA. The outbreak patterns of MPB were characterized by analysis of a decade-long Landsat time-series stack, aided by automatic attribution of change detected by the Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery algorithm (LandTrendr). The annual area of new MPB mortality was then related to a suite of anthropogenic, biologic, and physical predictor variables under a general linear model (GLM) framework. Data from years 2001–2005 were used to train the model and data from years 2006–2011 were retained for validation. After stepwise removal of non-significant predictors, the remaining predictors in the GLM indicated that neighborhood mortality, winter mean temperature anomaly, and residential housing density were positively associated with MPB mortality, whereas summer precipitation was negatively related. The final model had an average area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic plot value of 0.72 in predicting the annual area of new mortality for the independent validation years, and the mean deviation from the base maps in the MPB mortality areal estimates was around 5%. The extent of MPB mortality will likely expand under two climate-change scenarios (RCP 4.5 and 8.5) in Grand County, which implies that the impacts of MPB outbreaks on vegetation composition and structure, and ecosystem functioning are likely to increase in the future.

Quantum coherence is the most distinguished feature of quantum mechanics. It lies at the heart of the quantum-information technologies as the fundamental resource and is also related to other quantum resources, including entanglement. It plays a critical role in various fields, even in biology. Nevertheless, the rigorous and systematic resource-theoretic framework of coherence has just been developed recently, and several coherence measures are proposed. Experimentally, the usual method to measure coherence is to perform state tomography and use mathematical expressions. Here, we alternatively develop a method to measure coherence directly using its most essential behavior—the interference fringes. The ancilla states are mixed into the target state with various ratios, and the minimal ratio that makes the interference fringes of the "mixed state" vanish is taken as the quantity of coherence. We also use the witness observable to witness coherence, and the optimal witness constitutes another direct method to measure coherence. For comparison, we perform tomography and calculate l1 norm of coherence, which coincides with the results of the other two methods in our situation. Our methods are explicit and robust, providing a nice alternative to the tomographic technique.

Purpose: To identify the variables limiting the resolution of a Michelson interferometer used to measure phase shifts (PS) in water as part of a radiometric calorimeter. Methods: We investigated the output stability of a He-Ne laser and a laser diode. The short and long term stability of the fringepattern in a Michelson interferometer was tested with different types of lasers, thermal insulation arrangements, damping systems and optical mounts to optimize system performance. PS were induced by electrically heating water in a 1 cm quartz cuvette located in one of the interferometer arms. The PS was calculated from fringe intensity changes and compared to a calculated PS using thermocouple-measured temperature changes in the water. Results: The intensity of the laser diode is more stable, but the gas laser’s profile is more suitable for fringe analysis and has better temporal coherence. The laser requires a warm-up time of 4 hours before its output is stabilized (SNR>95). The fringe’s stability strongly depends on the thermal insulation. When the interferometer is exposed to ambient temperature swings of 0.7 K, it is not possible to stabilize the fringepattern. Enclosing the system in a 2.5 cm-thick Styrofoam box improves the SNR, but further insulation will be needed to increase the SNR above 50. High frequency noise is significantly reduced by damping the system.Inducing a temperature rise in water, starting at 299 K, the average temperature increase for a 2π PS is 0.29 ± 0.02 K and the proportionality constant is -21.1 ± 0.8 radians/K. This is 5.8% lower than the calculated value using the thermocouple. Conclusion: Interferometric PS measurements of temperature may provide an alternative to thermistors for water calorimetry. The resolution of the current prototype is limited by ambient temperature stability. Calculated and measured thermally-induced PS in water agreed to within 5.8%

Fringing marshes are abundant ecosystems that dominate the New England coastline. Despite their abundance, very little baseline data is available from them and few studies have documented the ecosystems services that they provide. This information is important for conservation efforts as well as for an increased understanding of how fringing marshes function compared...

Ciguatoxins, the principal causative toxins of ciguatera seafood poisoning, are potent neurotoxic polycyclic ethers. We report herein the total synthesis of a 10-membered F-ring analogue of 51-hydroxyCTX3C, which constitutes the first example of an F-ring modified ciguatoxin that exhibits potent cytotoxicity as well as mouse acute toxicity.

A quadratic model is suggested to describe the fringe shift occurred due to the phase variations of uncladded glass fiber introduced between the two plates of the liquid wedge interferometer. The fringe shift of the phase object is represented in the harmonic term which appears in the denominator of the Airy distribution ...

We analyse the impact of two different generation techniques used by fringe suppliers on the intensity of competition in the electricity wholesale market. For that purpose, we derive a Cournot model of this market taking into account long-term contracts, international trade and fringe suppliers

Mobility management measures taken by firms could potentially result in more sustainable transport choices and hence reduce traffic congestion and emissions. Fringe benefits offered to employees are a means to implement those measures. This paper explores the most common commuting-related fringe

CNC cutting machines have become essential tools for designers and architects enabling rapid prototyping, model-building and production of high quality components. Designers often cut from new materials, discarding the irregularly shaped remains. We introduce ProjecTables, a visual augmented...... reality system for interactive packing of model parts onto sheet materials. ProjecTables enables designers to (re)use scrap materials for CNC cutting that would have been previously thrown away, at the same time supporting aesthetic choices related to wood grain, avoiding surface blemishes, and other...... relevant material properties. We conducted evaluations of ProjecTables with design students from Aarhus School of Architecture, demonstrating that participants could quickly and easily place and orient model parts reducing material waste. Contextual interviews and ideation sessions led to a deeper...

A physically based analytical model for surface potential and threshold voltage including the fringing gate capacitances in cylindrical surround gate (CSG) MOSFETs has been developed. Based on this a subthreshold drain current model has also been derived. This model first computes the charge induced in the drain/source region due to the fringing capacitances and considers an effective charge distribution in the cylindrically extended source/drain region for the development of a simple and compact model. The fringing gate capacitances taken into account are outer fringe capacitance, inner fringe capacitance, overlap capacitance, and sidewall capacitance. The model has been verified with the data extracted from 3D TCAD simulations of CSG MOSFETs and was found to be working satisfactorily. (semiconductor devices)

Fringes formed in a Michelson interferometer never localize in any plane, in the detector plane and in the localization plane. Instead, the fringes are assumed to localize at infinity. Except for some explanation in Principles of Optics by Born and Wolf (1964 (New York: Macmillan)), the fringe localization phenomena of Michelson's interferometer have never been analysed seriously in any book. Because Michelson's interferometer is one of the important and fundamental optical experiments taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels, it would be appropriate to explain the localization of these fringes. In this paper, we analyse the localization of Michelson interferometer fringes using Fourier optics and temporal coherence, and show that they never localize at any plane even at infinity

The radial and axial motion of charged particles in the fringing field of an arbitrary dipole magnet has been considered with accuracy to the second-order of small quantities. The dipole magnet has an inhomogeneous field and oblique entrance and exit boundaries in the form of second-order curves. The region of the fringing field has a variable extension. A new definition of the effective boundary of the real fringing field has a variable extension. A new definition of the effective boundary of the real fringing field of the dipole magnet is used. A better understanding of the influence of the fringing magnetic field on the motion of charged particles in the pole gap of the dipole magnet has been obtained. In particular, it is shown that it is important to take into account, in the second approximation, some terms related formally to the next approximations. The results are presented in a form convenient for practical calculations. (orig.)

A non-contact arterial-induced skin vibration inspection system is implemented. This optical metrology system is constructed with shadow Moiré configuration and the fringe analysis algorithm. Developed with the Region of Interested (ROI) capturing technique and the Two-dimensional Wavelet Transform (2D-CWT) method, this algorithm is able to retrieve the height-correlated phase information from the shadow Moiré fringepatterns. Using a commercial video camera or a CMOS image sensor, this system could monitor the skin-vibration induced by the cyclic deformation of inner layered artery. The cross-sectional variation and the rhythm of heart cycle could be continuously measured for health monitoring purposes. The average vibration amplitude of the artery at the wrist ranges between 20 μm and 50 μm, which is quite subtle comparing with the skin surface structure. Having the non-stationary motion of human body, the traditional phase shifting (PS) technique can be very unstable due to the requirement of several frames of images, especially for case that artery is continuously pumping. To bypass this fundamental issue, the shadow Moiré technique is introduced to enhance the surface deformation characteristic. And the phase information is retrieved by the means of spectrum filtering instead of PS technique, which the phase is calculated from intensity maps of multiple images. The instantaneous surface can therefore be reconstructed individually from each frame, enabling the subtle arterial-induced skin vibration measurement. The comparative results of phase reconstruction between different fringe analysis algorithms will be demonstrated numerically and experimentally. And the electrocardiography (ECG) results will used as the reference for the validity of health monitoring potential of the non-contact arterial-induced skin vibration inspection system.

From the stripping points, the high intensity proton beam of a compact cyclotron travels through the fringe field area of the machine to the combination magnet. Starting from there the beams with various energy is transferred to the switching magnet for distribution to the beam line targets. In the design of the extraction and transport system for the compact proton cyclotron facilities, such as the 70 MeV in France and the 100 MeV in China, the space charge effect as the beam crosses the fringe field has not been previously considered; neither has the impact on transverse beam envelope coupled from the longitudinal direction. Those have been concerned much more with the higher beam-power because of the beam loss problem. In this paper, based on the mapping data of 70 MeV cyclotron including the fringe field by BEST Cyclotron Inc (BEST) and combination magnet field by China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), the beam extraction and transport are investigated for the 70 MeV cyclotron used on the SPES project at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (INFN-LNL). The study includes the space charge effect and longitudinal and transverse coupling mentioned above, as well as the matching of beam optics using the beam line for medical isotope production as an example. In addition, the designs of the ±45° switching magnets and the 60° bending magnet for the extracted beam with the energy from 35 MeV to 70 MeV have been made. Parts of the construction and field measurements of those magnets have been done as well. The current result shows that, the design considers the complexity of the compact cyclotron extraction area and fits the requirements of the extraction and transport for high intensity proton beam, especially at mA intensity levels.

From the stripping points, the high intensity proton beam of a compact cyclotron travels through the fringe field area of the machine to the combination magnet. Starting from there the beams with various energy is transferred to the switching magnet for distribution to the beam line targets. In the design of the extraction and transport system for the compact proton cyclotron facilities, such as the 70 MeV in France and the 100 MeV in China, the space charge effect as the beam crosses the fringe field has not been previously considered; neither has the impact on transverse beam envelope coupled from the longitudinal direction. Those have been concerned much more with the higher beam-power because of the beam loss problem. In this paper, based on the mapping data of 70 MeV cyclotron including the fringe field by BEST Cyclotron Inc (BEST) and combination magnet field by China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), the beam extraction and transport are investigated for the 70 MeV cyclotron used on the SPES project at Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (INFN–LNL). The study includes the space charge effect and longitudinal and transverse coupling mentioned above, as well as the matching of beam optics using the beam line for medical isotope production as an example. In addition, the designs of the ±45° switching magnets and the 60° bending magnet for the extracted beam with the energy from 35 MeV to 70 MeV have been made. Parts of the construction and field measurements of those magnets have been done as well. The current result shows that, the design considers the complexity of the compact cyclotron extraction area and fits the requirements of the extraction and transport for high intensity proton beam, especially at mA intensity levels.

We propose a bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) method to reduce speckle noise in digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) fringes. The BEMD method is based on a sifting process that decomposes the DSPI fringes in a finite set of subimages represented by high and low frequency oscillations, which are named modes. The sifting process assigns the high frequency information to the first modes, so that it is possible to discriminate speckle noise from fringe information, which is contained in the remaining modes. The proposed method is a fully data-driven technique, therefore neither fixed basis functions nor operator intervention are required. The performance of the BEMD method to denoise DSPI fringes is analyzed using computer-simulated data, and the results are also compared with those obtained by means of a previously developed one-dimensional empirical mode decomposition approach. An application of the proposed BEMD method to denoise experimental fringes is also presented

An automatic fringe tracking system has been developed and implemented at the Infrared Optical Telescope Array (IOTA). In testing during May 2002, the system successfully minimized the optical path differences (OPDs) for all three baselines at IOTA. Based on sliding window discrete Fourier transform (DFT) calculations that were optimized for computational efficiency and robustness to atmospheric disturbances, the algorithm has also been tested extensively on off-line data. Implemented in ANSI C on the 266 MHZ PowerPC processor running the VxWorks real-time operating system, the algorithm runs in approximately 2.0 milliseconds per scan (including all three interferograms), using the science camera and piezo scanners to measure and correct the OPDs. Preliminary analysis on an extension of this algorithm indicates a potential for predictive tracking, although at present, real-time implementation of this extension would require significantly more computational capacity.

Business and society (B&S) researchers, as well as practitioners, have been critiqued for ignoring those with less voice and power (e.g., women, nonliterate, or indigenous peoples) often referred to as “fringe stakeholders.” Existing methods used in B&S research often fail to address issues...... methods may be used by researchers to achieve more inclusive, and thus more credible, stakeholder research that can improve decision making within businesses. Furthermore, we argue that ingrained social and environmental problems tackled by B&S research and the unique context in which they occur may open...... of meaningful participation, voice and power, especially in developing countries. In this article, we stress the utility of visual participatory research (VPR) methods in B&S research to fill this gap. Through a case study on engaging Ghanaian cocoa farmers on gender inequality issues, we explore how VPR...

The ROXIE program developed at CERN for the design and optimization of the superconducting LHC magnets has been recently extended in a collaboration with the University of Stuttgart, Germany, with a field computation method based on the coupling between the boundary element (BEM) and the finite element (FEM) technique. This avoids the meshing of the coils and the air regions, and avoids the artificial far field boundary conditions. The method is therefore specially suited for the accurate calculation of fields in the superconducting magnets in which the field is dominated by the coil. We will present the fringe field calculations in both 2d and 3d geometries to evaluate the effect of connections and the cryostat on the field quality and the flux density to which auxiliary bus-bars are exposed.

We investigate planetary period oscillations (PPOs) in Saturn's magnetosphere using Cassini magnetic field data during the high cadence ( 7 days) F-ring and proximal orbits. Previous results have shown that there are two PPO systems, one in each hemisphere. Both PPO periods show seasonal dependence, and since mid-2014 the Northern PPO period has been 10.8 h and the Southern PPO period 10.7 h. The beat period of the two oscillations is 45 days. Previous results demonstrated that in the Northern (Southern) polar region only pure Northern (Southern) oscillations can be observed, whilst in the equatorial region both oscillations are present and constructively and destructively interfere over the beat-cycle of the two oscillations. The PPOs are believed to be driven by twin-cell convection patterns in the polar ionosphere/thermosphere regions, with two systems of field-aligned currents transmitting the PPO flows to the magnetospheric plasma.The F-ring and proximal orbits uniquely observe the PPOs over 6 orbits during each PPO beat cycle. This high-cadence data demonstrates that over a beat cycle both the periods and amplitudes of the PPO observed within the each polar region are modulated by the PPO system from the opposite hemisphere. When the two oscillations are in phase (anti-phase) the `drag' of one system on the other acts to decrease (increase) the amplitude of the oscillations and the two PPO periods diverge (converge). We present a theoretical model showing that this coupling is due to the PPO flows from one hemisphere not just being communicated to the magnetosphere as previously assumed, but also to the opposite hemisphere. The result is inter-hemispheric coupling of the PPO flow systems within the ionosphere/thermosphere system, so that the northern PPO system drives a northern twin-cell convection pattern in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa, thus leading to the observed polar modulations of the PPOs.We will also present PPO phase models determined

Most climatological studies characterize future climate change as the evolution between a fixed current baseline and the future. Considering the pace of future climate change is however of major importance, since it may strongly influence how we experience climate hazards. To complement previous work related to the pace of temperature and precipitation changes, we propose here to study how fast vegetation seasonality and patterns of climate change evolve in different future configurations according to CMIP5 simulations of several Earth system models. The pace is defined as the difference in relevant metrics between two successive 20-year periods, i.e. with a continually moving baseline. Shifts of vegetation groups and changes in the characteristics of the seasonal cycle are considered. Both accelerate in close relationship with the warming rate regardless of the selected scenario, but they balance each other out, especially for trees in northern mid- and high-latitudes. Efforts are nevertheless strongly needed to harmonize the representation of vegetation in new versions of model inter-comparison projects, in order to properly conduct multi-model analyses related to vegetation changes.

This article examines the utilization characteristics and importance of woody biomass resources in the rural-urban fringe zones of Botswana. In the literature for Africa, attention has been given to the availability and utilization of biomass in either urban or rural environments, but the rural-urban fringe has been neglected. Within southern Africa, this neglect is not justified; the rural-urban fringe, not getting the full benefits available in urban environments in Botswana, has developed problems in woody biomass availability and utilization that require close attention. In this article, socioeconomic data on the importance of woody biomass in the Batlokwa Tribal Territory, on the rural-urban fringe of Gaborone, Botswana, were collected together with ecologic data that reveal the utilization characteristics and potential for regrowth of woody biomass. The analysis of these results show that local woody biomass is very important in the daily lives of communities in the rural-urban fringe zones and that there is a high level of harvesting. However, there is no effort in planning land use in the tribal territory to either conserve this resource or provide alternatives to its utilization. The future of woody biomass resources in Botswana's rural-urban fringe is uncertain. The investigators recommend that a comprehensive policy for the development of the rural-urban fringe consider the importance of this resource. The neglect of this resource will have far-reaching implications on the livelihoods of residents as well as the environment in this zone.

An image conversion tube with a magnetic lens was designed to observe electron beam moiré fringes. Electron beam moiré fringes result from the interference between the photocathode and the anode meshes. The photocathode had a strip line structure with a spatial frequency of 10 L/mm. The anode mesh had a fixed spatial frequency of 10 L/mm, and could be rotated around the axis of the image tube. The changes to the fringe direction and the spacing as a function of the rotation angle between the photocathode and the anode mesh were examined. The experimental results agreed with the theoretical analysis. Moiré fringes with a modulation of ~20% were obtained using a 3 keV electron beam. - Highlights: • Observe the electron beam moiré fringes in large angle of view. • The changes to the fringe direction and the spacing as a function of the rotation angle between the two gratings were examined. • Modulations of the moiré fringes in different rotation angle are recorded.

An image conversion tube with a magnetic lens was designed to observe electron beam moiré fringes. Electron beam moiré fringes result from the interference between the photocathode and the anode meshes. The photocathode had a strip line structure with a spatial frequency of 10 L/mm. The anode mesh had a fixed spatial frequency of 10 L/mm, and could be rotated around the axis of the image tube. The changes to the fringe direction and the spacing as a function of the rotation angle between the photocathode and the anode mesh were examined. The experimental results agreed with the theoretical analysis. Moiré fringes with a modulation of ~20% were obtained using a 3 keV electron beam. - Highlights: • Observe the electron beam moiré fringes in large angle of view. • The changes to the fringe direction and the spacing as a function of the rotation angle between the two gratings were examined. • Modulations of the moiré fringes in different rotation angle are recorded.

An actin fringe structure in the subapex plays an important role in pollen tube tip growth. However, the precise mechanism by which the actin fringe is generated and maintained remains largely unknown. Here, we cloned a 2606-bp full-length cDNA encoding a deduced 77-kD fimbrin-like protein from lily (Lilium longiflorum), named FIMBRIN1 (FIM1). Ll-FIM1 was preferentially expressed in pollen and concentrated at actin fringe in the subapical region, as well as in longitudinal actin-filament bundles in the shank of pollen tubes. Microinjection of Ll-FIM1 antibody into lily pollen tubes inhibited tip growth and disrupted the actin fringe. Furthermore, we verified the function of Ll-FIM1 in the fim5 mutant of its closest relative, Arabidopsis thaliana. Pollen tubes of fim5 mutants grew with a larger diameter in early stages but could recover into normal forms in later stages, despite significantly slower growth rates. The actin fringe of the fim5 mutants, however, was impaired during both early and late stages. Impressively, stable expression of fim5pro:GFP:Ll-FIM1 rescued the actin fringe and the growth rate of Arabidopsis fim5 pollen tubes. In vitro biochemical analysis showed that Ll-FIM1 could bundle actin filaments. Thus, our study has identified a fimbrin that may stabilize the actin fringe by cross-linking actin filaments into bundles, which is important for proper tip growth of lily pollen tubes.

Notch signaling plays an essential role in development as well as cancer. We have previously shown that Notch3 is important for lung cancer growth and survival. Notch receptors are activated through the interaction with their ligands, resulting in proteolytic cleavage of the receptors. This interaction is modulated by Fringe, a family of fucose-specific β1,3 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases that modify the extracellular subunit of Notch receptors. Studies in developmental models showed that Fringe enhances Notch's response to Delta ligands at the expense of Jagged ligands. We observed that Manic Fringe expression is down-regulated in lung cancer. Since Jagged1, a known ligand for Notch3, is often over-expressed in lung cancer, we hypothesized that Fringe negatively regulates Notch3 activation. In this study, we show that re-expression of Manic Fringe down-regulates Notch3 target genes HES1 and HeyL and reduces tumor phenotype in vitro and in vivo. The mechanism for this phenomenon appears to be related to modulation of Notch3 protein stability. Proteasome inhibition reverses Manic Fringe-induced protein turnover. Taken together, our data provide the first evidence that Manic Fringe functions as a tumor suppressor in the lung and that the mechanism of its anti-tumor activity is mediated by inhibition of Notch3 activation.

Highlights: • Temperature profile matches laser intensity profile in poor thermally conducting layers. • Patterns produced in poor thermally conducting layers have sharp interfaces. • Lateral heat flow smears the temperature profile in thermally conducting layers. • Both liquid and solid state dewetting occurs upon patterning thermally conducting layers. • The thermal conductivity of layers limits the minimum period achievable. - Abstract: In this work, we compare patterns produced in Ag layers having similar thickness in the range 8.3–10.8 nm but having different initial nanostructure, i.e. behaving either as discontinuous or continuous layers and thus having very different thermal conductivities. The patterns are produced by exposing a phase mask to an excimer laser operating at 193 nm and using a projection optics that leads to similar fringedpatterns with periods in the range 6.3–6.7 μm. The layer breaks up into isolated NPs due to laser induced melting at the regions around the intensity maxima sites. The resulting fringes have sharp interfaces in the case of discontinuous layers while a variety of regions across the pattern with no sharp interfaces are produced in the case of continuous layers. The results show that while the temperature distribution across the pattern matches almost perfectly the laser beam intensity profile for the former case, it becomes smeared due to lateral heat flow for the latter case. These results provide evidences for significant heating at the intensity minima sites that lead to solid-state dewetting and will eventually limit the minimum period achievable in the case of continuous metal layers or thermally conducting layers.

Purpose: To examine meal patterns in terms of frequency and circadian timing of eating in five European countries participating in the EFCOVAL project. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 559 men and women, aged 44–65 years, were recruited in Belgium, the Czech Republic, France (Southern part),

This paper presents the process for obtaining isoclinic fringes from experiment and compares the experimental results with theoretical calculations. In this experiment, the polaris cope named 'Stress master' is used as a primary tool, combined with a circular disk made of urethane rubber called as 'Photoflex' and a CCD camera to record the isoclinic fringes. In photoelasticity, isoclinics can be used to get the stress trajectories and then to analyze the whole field stresses. But it must be emphasized that isoclinic fringes are not themselves stress trajectories. In this paper, isoclinics are measured accurately by use of sharpening technique. Experimental results are comparable to those of theory.

In the species rich tropics, forest conservation is often eclipsed by anthropogenic disturbance, resulting in a heightened need for an accurate assessment of biomass and the gaining of predictive capability before these ecosystems disappear. The combination of multi-temporal remote sensing data, field data and forest growth modeling to quantify carbon stocks and flux is therefore of great importance. In this study, we utilize these methods to (1) improve forest biomass and carbon flux estimates for the study region in Eastern Madagascar, and (2) initialize an individual-based growth model that incorporates the anthropogenic factors causing deforestation to project ecosystem response to future environmental change. Recent studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between the international rice market and rates of deforestation in tropical countries such as Madagascar (see Minten et al., 2006). Further, although law protects the remaining forest areas, dictatorships and recent political unrest have lead to poor or non-existent enforcement of precious wood and forest protection over the past 35 years. Our approach combined multi-temporal remote sensing analysis and ecological modeling using a theoretical and mathematical approach to assess biomass change and to understand how tree growth and life history (growth response patterns) relate to past and present economic variability in Madagascar forests of the eastern Toamasina region. We measured rates of change of deforestation with respect to politics and the price of rice by classifying and comparing biomass using 30m Landsat during 5 political regime time periods (1985-1992, 1993-1996, 1997-2001, 2002-2008, 2009 to present). Forest biomass estimations were calibrated using forest inventory data collected over 3 growing seasons over the study region (130 small circular plots in primary forest). This information was then built into the previously parameterized (Armstrong et al., in prep and Fischer et al in

The Global Decomposition Project (GDP) is a program designed to introduce and educate students and the general public about soil organic matter and decomposition through a standardized protocol for collecting, reporting, and sharing data. This easy-to-use hands-on activity focuses on questions such as "How do environmental conditions control decomposition of organic matter in soil?" and "Why do some areas accumulate organic matter and others do not?" Soil organic matter is important to local ecosystems because it affects soil structure, regulates soil moisture and temperature, and provides energy and nutrients to soil organisms. It is also important globally because it stores a large amount of carbon, and when microbes "eat", or decompose organic matter they release greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, which affects the earth's climate. The protocol describes a commonly used method to measure decomposition using a paper made of cellulose, a component of plant cell walls. Participants can receive pre-made cellulose decomposition bags, or make decomposition bags using instructions in the protocol and easily obtained materials (e.g., window screen and lignin-free paper). Individual results will be shared with all participants and the broader public through an online database. We will present decomposition bag results from a research site in Alaskan tundra, as well as from a middle-school-student led experiment in California. The GDP demonstrates how scientific methods can be extended to educate broader audiences, while at the same time, data collected by students and the public can provide new insight into global patterns of soil decomposition. The GDP provides a pathway for scientists and educators to interact and reach meaningful education and research goals.

The fringe banking industry, including payday lenders and check cashers, was nearly nonexistent three decades ago. Today it generates tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. The industry's growth accelerated in the 1980s with financial deregulation and the working class's declining resources. With Current Population Survey data, we used propensity score matching to investigate the relationship between fringe loan use, unbanked status, and self-rated health, hypothesizing that the material and stress effects of exposure to these financial services would be harmful to health. We found that fringe loan use was associated with 38 percent higher prevalence of poor or fair health, while being unbanked (not having one's own bank account) was associated with 17 percent higher prevalence. Although a variety of policies could mitigate the health consequences of these exposures, expanding social welfare programs and labor protections would address the root causes of the use of fringe services and advance health equity.

This paper proposes a new color fringe correction method that preserves the object color well by the color difference prediction using the logistic function. We observe two characteristics between normal edge (NE) and degraded edge (DE) due to color fringe: 1) the DE has relatively smaller R-G and B-G correlations than the NE and 2) the color difference in the NE can be fitted by the logistic function. The proposed method adjusts the color difference of the DE to the logistic function by maximizing the R-G and B-G correlations in the corrected color fringe image. The generalized logistic function with four parameters requires a high computational load to select the optimal parameters. In experiments, a one-parameter optimization can correct color fringe gracefully with a reduced computational load. Experimental results show that the proposed method restores well the original object color in the DE, whereas existing methods give monochromatic or distorted color.

This paper reports the development of an electrothermal microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) mirror with serpentine shape actuators. A micro Fresnel mirror with fringe-spacing tunability is required to realize a compact and high-speed diffusion sensor for biological samples whose diffusion coefficient changes significantly because of a conformational change. In this case, the measurement time-constant is dependent on the fringe-spacing and diffusion coefficient of the sample. In this study, a fringe-tunable MEMS mirror with an actuation voltage less than 10 V was developed. The characteristics of the fabricated mirror were investigated experimentally. A high-visibility optical interference fringe was successfully demonstrated using both an ultranarrow-linewidth solid-state laser and a low-cost compact laser diode. The experimental results demonstrated a distinct possibility of developing a measurement device using only simple and low-voltage optical components.

Naturally-occurring deuterium is a useful tracer of subsurface hydrologic processes. A possible application includes the identification of capillary fringes in the vadose zone. Multiple and discontinuous water tables persist in many temperate regions, under various hydrogeologi...

This study focuses on the linkage between car-related fringe benefits and the travel behavior of knowledge workers in commute and leisure trips. Specifically, this study compares the commuting and leisure travel behavior of knowledge workers who receive either a company-car or car allowance...... with the travel behavior of workers who do not receive car-related fringe benefits. Data are based on a revealed-preferences survey among knowledge workers in Israel. Results show that car-related fringe benefits are associated with (i) high car ownership and car use intensity, (ii) long commute distances...... and travel times and non-sustainable transport modes, and (iii) high frequency of long-distance leisure trips. Policy implications include (i) directing policies towards reducing car ownership induced by car-related fringe benefits, (ii) encouraging company-car holders to ‘pay their way’, and (iii...

Mangroves exhibit low species richness compared to other tropical forests, but great structural and functional diversity. Aiming to contribute to a better understanding of the functioning of mangrove forests, we investigated nitrogen (N) dynamics in two physiographic types of mangroves (fringe and basin forests) in southeastern Brazil. Because fringe forests are under great influence of tidal flushing we hypothesized that these forests would exhibit higher N cycling rates in sediment and higher N losses to the atmosphere compared to basin forests. We quantified net N mineralization and nitrification rates in sediment and natural abundance of N stable isotopes (δ 15 N) in the sediment-plant-litter system. The fringe forest exhibited higher net N mineralization rates and δ 15 N in the sediment-plant-litter system, but net nitrification rates were similar to those of the basin forest. The results of the present study suggest that fringe forests exhibit higher N availability and N cycling in sediment compared to basin forests.

This paper presents the theory for the use of crossed Babinet compensators in testing concave aspheric surfaces. Theoretical fringe profiles for a sphere and for an aspheric surface with primary aberration are shown. Advantages of this method are discussed.

The homodyne detection with only a single detector represents a promising approach in the interferometric application which enables a significant reduction of the optical system complexity while preserving the fundamental resolution and dynamic range of the single frequency laser interferometers. We present the design, implementation and analysis of algorithmic methods for computational processing of the single-detector interference signal based on parallel pipelined processing suitable for real time implementation on a programmable hardware platform (e.g. the FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Arrays or the SoC - System on Chip). The algorithmic methods incorporate (a) the single detector signal (sine) scaling, filtering, demodulations and mixing necessary for the second (cosine) quadrature signal reconstruction followed by a conic section projection in Cartesian plane as well as (a) the phase unwrapping together with the goniometric and linear transformations needed for the scale linearization and periodic error correction. The digital computing scheme was designed for bandwidths up to tens of megahertz which would allow to measure the displacements at the velocities around half metre per second. The algorithmic methods were tested in real-time operation with a PC-based reference implementation that employed the advantage pipelined processing by balancing the computational load among multiple processor cores. The results indicate that the algorithmic methods are suitable for a wide range of applications [3] and that they are bringing the fringe counting interferometry closer to the industrial applications due to their optical setup simplicity and robustness, computational stability, scalability and also a cost-effectiveness.

An ideal beam splitter model for an absorber presented by Leonhardt in his book Measuring the Quantum State of Light (Cambridge University Press, 1997) has intriguing implications for the simple Young's fringe experiment in the photon-counting regime. Specifically, it suggests that different results will be obtained depending on whether the light forming the fringes is attenuated at the source or at the slits.

In this paper we present numerical modeling results for fringing field optimization of hemispherical deflector analyzers (HDAs), simulated using boundary-element and finite-difference numerical methods. Optimization of the fringing field aberrations of HDAs is performed by using a biased optical axis and an optimized entry position offset (paracentric) from the center position used in conventional HDAs. The described optimization achieves first-order focusing thus also further improving the energy resolution of HDAs.

Full Text Available We present a novel method to determine the projected atomic potential of a specimen directly from transmission electron microscopy coherent electron nano-diffraction patterns, overcoming common limitations encountered so far due to the dynamical nature of electron-matter interaction. The projected potential is obtained by deconvolution of the inverse Fourier transform of experimental diffraction patterns rescaled in intensity by using theoretical values of the kinematical atomic scattering factors. This novelty enables the compensation of dynamical effects typical of transmission electron microscopy (TEM experiments on standard specimens with thicknesses up to a few tens of nm. The projected atomic potentials so obtained are averaged on sample regions illuminated by nano-sized electron probes and are in good quantitative agreement with theoretical expectations. Contrary to lens-based microscopy, here the spatial resolution in the retrieved projected atomic potential profiles is related to the finer lattice spacing measured in the electron diffraction pattern. The method has been successfully applied to experimental nano-diffraction data of crystalline centrosymmetric and non-centrosymmetric specimens achieving a resolution of 65 pm.

A 1998 proposal to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) described how to update an earlier proposal outline for an experiment involving a manned spacecraft that traveled to just outside the gravitational field of the solar system. The recent proposal briefly describes how to initiate a 25-year program to launch a seven-year mission. Very little thought has been given to astronomical/astrophysical investigations that might be carried out over seven years, but one or more generations of NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder program might be included. Only a little serious thought has been given to how to reenter the solar system's gravitational fringe field, but access to several procedures and three-fold redundancy seems desirable. Some details of the proposed paper study will be given. Non-responsibility statement, from source document of calendar 1973. This document was prepared while the author was on an unpaid leave of absence from The Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (LMSC) of Palo Alto, California. The comments made herein are partly the results of experiments carried out over a number of years. For a portion of this time, both NASA and LMSC financed the author's space astronomy investigations. It may be that either or both these institutions may possess some proprietary rights to portions of the ideas and information presented. This work was supported by Ruffner Associates, Inc.

Discovered in 1813, the conoscopic interference pattern observed due to light propagating through a crystal, kept between crossed polarizers, shows isochromates and isogyres, respectively containing information about the dynamic and geometric phase acquired by the beam. We propose and demonstrate a closed-fringe Fourier analysis method to disentangle the isogyres from the isochromates, leading us to the azimuthally varying geometric phase and its manifestation as isogyres. This azimuthally varying geometric phase is shown to be the underlying mechanism for the spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion observed in a diverging optical field propagating through a z-cut uniaxial crystal. We extend the formalism to study the optical activity mediated uniaxial-to-biaxial transformation due to a weak transverse electric field applied across the crystal. Closely associated with the phase and polarization singularities of the optical field, the formalism enables us to understand crystal optics in a new way, paving the way to anticipate several emerging phenomena.

We report a novel all-fiber, maskless lithograpic technology to form various concentric grating patterns for micro zone plate on azo polymer film. The proposed technology is based on the interference pattern out of the cleaved end of a coreless silica fiber (CSF)-single mode fiber (SMF) composite. The light guided along SMF expands into the CSF segment to generate various circular interference patterns depending on the length of CSF. Interference patterns are experimentally observed when the CSF length is over a certain length and the finer spacing between the concentric rings are obtained for a longer CSF. By using beam propagation method (BPM) package, we could further investigated the concentric interference patterns in terms of intensity distribution and fringe spacing as a function of CSF length. These intereference patterns are directly projected over azo polymer film and their intensity distrubution formed surface relief grating (SRG) patterns. Compared to photoresist films azo polymer layers produce surface relief grating (SRG), where the actual mass of layer is modulated rather than refractive index. The geometric parameters of the CSF length as well as diameter and the spacing between the cleaved end of a CSF and azo polymer film, were found to play a major role to generate various concentric structures. With the demonstration of the circular SRG patterns, we confirmed that the proposed technique do have an ample potential to fabricate micro fresnel zone plate, that could find applications in lens arrays for optical beam formings as well as compact photonic devices.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Due to technological progress and improvements in medical care and health policy the average age of patients in primary care is continuously growing. In equal measure, an increasing proportion of mostly elderly primary care patients presents with multiple coexisting medical conditions. To properly assess the current situation of co- and multimorbidity, valid scientific data based on an appropriate data structure are indispensable. CONTENT (CONTinuous morbidity registration Epidemiologic NeTwork is an ambitious project in Germany to establish a system for adequate record keeping and analysis in primary care based on episodes of care. An episode is defined as health problem from its first presentation by a patient to a doctor until the completion of the last encounter for it. The study aims to describe co- and multimorbidity as well as health care utilization based on episodes of care for the study population of the first participating general practices. Methods The analyses were based on a total of 39,699 patients in a yearly contact group (YCG out of 17 general practices in Germany for which data entry based on episodes of care using the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC was performed between 1.1.2006 and 31.12.2006. In order to model the relationship between the explanatory variables (age, gender, number of chronic conditions and the response variables of interest (number of different prescriptions, number of referrals, number of encounters that were applied to measure health care utilization, we used multiple linear regression. Results In comparison to gender, patients' age had a manifestly stronger impact on the number of different prescriptions, the number of referrals and number of encounters. In comparison to age (β = 0.043, p Conclusion Documentation in primary care on the basis of episodes of care facilitates an insight to concurrently existing health problems and related medical procedures

Ireland’s geographic location on the western fringe of the European continent, together with its island status and impoverished avifauna, provides a unique opportunity to observe changes in bird migration and distribution patterns in response to changing climatic conditions. Spring temperatures have increased in western Europe over the past 30 years in line with reported global warming. These have been shown, at least in part, to be responsible for changes in the timing of life cycle events (phenology) of plants and animals. In order to investigate the response of bird species in Ireland to changes in temperature, we examined ornithological records of trans-Saharan migrants over the 31-year period 1969-1999. Analysis of the data revealed that two discrete climatic phenomena produced different responses in summer migrant bird species. Firstly, a number of long-distance migrants showed a significant trend towards earlier arrival. This trend was evident in some species and was found to be a response to increasing spring air temperature particularly in the month of March. Secondly, (1) a step change in the pattern of occurrences of non-breeding migrant bird species, and (2) an increase in the ringing data of migrant species were found to correlate with a step change in temperature in 1987-1988. These results indicate that, for migrant bird species, the impact of a sudden change in temperature can be as important as any long-term monotonic trend, and we suggest that the impact of step change events merits further investigation on a wider range of species and across a greater geographical range.

Phase counters, which are used with heterodyne interferometers for plasma density measurements, frequently suffer from phase jumping and cause difficulties for data interpretation. An automatic fringe jump corrector (AFJC) circuit has been developed to compensate for fringe jumps. The AFJC can correct phase jumps automatically in real-time. The AFJC, which is integrated on one chip, is installed on the presently working phase counter circuit. As for the specification of this phase counter the intermediate beat signal is 1 MHz, the phase detection range is 31 fringes with phase resolution of 1/80 of a fringe and the response time of 10 μs. The circuit has been tested on the far infrared (FIR) laser interferometer on LHD. The AFJC works fine to correct fringe jumps, when fringe jumps occurred due to the strong density gradient produced by the hydrogen pellet injection

The effect of obesity and fat distribution on survival of breast cancer patients was studied prospectively in 241 women with a natural menopause who participated in a breast cancer screening project, the DOM-project in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Mean follow-up time was 9.1 years and endpoint of

Absolute gravimeters, based on laser interferometry, are widely used for many applications in geoscience and metrology. Although currently the most accurate FG5 and FG5X gravimeters declare standard uncertainties at the level of 2-3 μGal, their inherent systematic errors affect the gravity reference determined by international key comparisons based predominately on the use of FG5-type instruments. The measurement results for FG5-215 and FG5X-251 clearly showed that the measured g-values depend on the size of the fringe signal and that this effect might be approximated by a linear regression with a slope of up to 0.030 μGal/mV . However, these empirical results do not enable one to identify the source of the effect or to determine a reasonable reference fringe level for correcting g-values in an absolute sense. Therefore, both gravimeters were equipped with new measuring systems (according to Křen et al. in Metrologia 53:27-40, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1088/0026-1394/53/1/27 applied for FG5), running in parallel with the original systems. The new systems use an analogue-to-digital converter HS5 to digitize the fringe signal and a new method of fringe signal analysis based on FFT swept bandpass filtering. We demonstrate that the source of the fringe size effect is connected to a distortion of the fringe signal due to the electronic components used in the FG5(X) gravimeters. To obtain a bias-free g-value, the FFT swept method should be applied for the determination of zero-crossings. A comparison of g-values obtained from the new and the original systems clearly shows that the original system might be biased by approximately 3-5 μGal due to improperly distorted fringe signal processing.

In a photoelastic experiment, it is necessary to know the material stress fringe constant of the photoelastic specimen to determine the stresses from the measured isochromatic fringe orders. The material stress fringe constant can be obtained using a simple tension specimen and/or a circular disk under diametric compression. In these methods, there is generally a need to apply numerous loads to the specimen in response to the relationship of the fringe order. Then, the least squares method is used to obtain the material constant. In this paper, the fringe orders that appear on a four-point bending specimen are used to determine the fringe constant. This method requires four photoelastic fringes obtained from a circular polariscope by rotating the analyzer to 0, π/4, π/2, and 3π/4 radians. Using the four-point bending specimen to determine the material stress fringe constant has an advantage because measurements can be made at different locations by applying a constant load. The stress fringe constant measured with this method is within the range suggested by the manufacturer of the photoelastic material

To explore fundamental principles characterizing chemosensory information processing, we have identified antennal-lobe projection neurons in the heliothine moth, including several neuron types not previously described. Generally, odor information is conveyed from the primary olfactory center of the moth brain, the antennal lobe, to higher brain centers via projection neuron axons passing along several parallel pathways, of which the medial, mediolateral, and lateral antennal-lobe tract are considered the classical ones. Recent data have revealed the projections of the individual tracts more in detail demonstrating three main target regions in the protocerebrum; the calyces are innervated mainly by the medial tract, the superior intermediate protocerebrum by the lateral tract exclusively, and the lateral horn by all tracts. In the present study, we have identified, via iontophoretic intracellular staining combined with confocal microscopy, individual projection neurons confined to the tracts mentioned above, plus two additional ones. Further, using the visualization software AMIRA, we reconstructed the stained neurons and registered the models into a standard brain atlas, which allowed us to compare the termination areas of individual projection neurons both across and within distinct tracts. The data demonstrate a morphological diversity of the projection neurons within distinct tracts. Comparison of the output areas of the neurons confined to the three main tracts in the lateral horn showed overlapping terminal regions for the medial and mediolateral tracts; the lateral tract neurons, on the contrary, targeted mostly other output areas in the protocerebrum. PMID:27822181

We propose a fringe-shifting holographic method with an appropriate image wave recovery algorithm leading to exact solution of holographic equations. With this new method the complex object image wave recovered from holograms appears to have much less traditional artifacts caused by the autocorrelation band present practically in all Fourier transformed holograms. The new analytical solutions make possible a double-resolution electron holography free from autocorrelation band artifacts and thus push the limits for phase resolution. The new image wave recovery algorithm uses a popular Fourier solution of the side band-pass filter technique, while the fringe-shifting holographic method is simple to implement in practice. - Highlights: • We propose a fringe-shifting holographic method simple enough for practical implementations. • Our new image-wave-recovery algorithm follows from exact solution of holographic equations. • With autocorrelation band removal from holograms it is possible to achieve double-resolution electron holography data free from several commonly known artifacts. • The new fringe-shifting method can reach an image wave resolution close to single fringe spacing

We propose a fringe-shifting holographic method with an appropriate image wave recovery algorithm leading to exact solution of holographic equations. With this new method the complex object image wave recovered from holograms appears to have much less traditional artifacts caused by the autocorrelation band present practically in all Fourier transformed holograms. The new analytical solutions make possible a double-resolution electron holography free from autocorrelation band artifacts and thus push the limits for phase resolution. The new image wave recovery algorithm uses a popular Fourier solution of the side band-pass filter technique, while the fringe-shifting holographic method is simple to implement in practice. - Highlights: • We propose a fringe-shifting holographic method simple enough for practical implementations. • Our new image-wave-recovery algorithm follows from exact solution of holographic equations. • With autocorrelation band removal from holograms it is possible to achieve double-resolution electron holography data free from several commonly known artifacts. • The new fringe-shifting method can reach an image wave resolution close to single fringe spacing.

An excessive cold tongue is a common bias among current climate models, and considered an important source of bias in projections of tropical Pacific climate change under global warming. Specifically, the excessive cold tongue bias is closely related to the tropical Pacific SST warming (TPSW) pattern. In this study, we reveal that two processes are the critical mechanisms by which the excessive cold tongue bias influences the projection of the TPSW pattern, based on 32 models from phase 5 of Coupled Model Intercomparison Projection (CMIP5). On the one hand, by assuming that the shortwave (SW) radiation to SST feedback is linearly correlated to the cold tongue SST, the excessive cold tongue bias can induce an overly weak negative SW-SST feedback in the central Pacific, which can lead to a positive SST warming bias in the central to western Pacific (around 150°E-140°W). Moreover, the overly weak local atmospheric dynamics response to SST is a key process of the overly weak SW-SST feedback, compared with the cloud response to atmospheric dynamics and the SW radiation response to cloud. On the other hand, the overly strong ocean zonal overturning circulation associated with the excessive cold tongue bias results in an overestimation of the ocean dynamical thermostat effect, with enhanced ocean stratification under global warming, leading to a negative SST warming bias in the central and eastern Pacific (around 170°W-120°W). These two processes jointly form a positive SST warming bias in the western Pacific, contributing to a La Niña-like warming bias. Therefore, we suggest a more realistic climatological cold tongue SST is needed for a more reliable projection of the TPSW pattern.

All the techniques that measure displacements, whether in the range of visible optics or any other form of field methods, require the presence of a carrier signal. A carrier signal is a wave form modulated (modified) by an input, deformation of the medium. A carrier is tagged to the medium under analysis and deforms with the medium. The wave form must be known both in the unmodulated and the modulated conditions. There are two basic mathematical models that can be utilized to decode the information contained in the carrier, phase modulation or frequency modulation, both are closely connected. Basic problems connected to the detection and recovery of displacement information that are common to all optical techniques will be analyzed in this paper, focusing on the general theory common to all the methods independently of the type of signal utilized. The aspects discussed are those that have practical impact in the process of data gathering and data processing.

Here, we investigate a method to distinguish the counterfeits by patterning multiple reflective type grating directly on the surface of the original product and analyze the serial number from its rotation angles of diffracted fringes. The micro-sized gratings were fabricated on the surface of the material at high speeds by illuminating the interference fringe generated by passing a high-energy pulse laser through the Fresnel biprism. In addition, analysis of the grating's diffraction fringes was performed using a continuous wave laser.

The proposed upgrade of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) to a multibend-achromat lattice requires shorter and much stronger quadrupole magnets than are present in the existing ring. This results in longitudinal gradient profiles that differ significantly from a hard-edge model. Additionally, the lattice assumes the use of five-segment longitudinal gradient dipoles. Under these circumstances, the effects of fringe fields and detailed field distributions are of interest. We evaluated the effect of soft-edge fringe fields on the linear optics and chromaticity, finding that compensation for these effects is readily accomplished. In addition, we evaluated the reliability of standard methods of simulating hardedge nonlinear fringe effects in quadrupoles.

Diffusive–dispersive mass transfer in the capillary fringe is important for many groundwater quality issues such as transfer of volatile compounds into (and out of) the groundwater, the supply of oxygen for aerobic degradation of hydrocarbons as well as for precipitation of minerals (e.g. iron...... hydroxides). 2D-laboratory scale experiments were used to investigate the transfer of oxygen into groundwater under non-reactive and reactive conditions, at steady state and with water table fluctuations. Results show that transfer of oxygen is limited by transverse dispersion in the capillary fringe...... and the dispersion coefficients are the same as below the water table. Water table fluctuations cause temporarily increased fluxes of oxygen into groundwater during draining conditions and entrapped air after water table rise. High-permeability inclusions in the capillary fringe enhance mass transfer of oxygen...

The criterion of optimizing the fringing magnetic field is discussed, and an analytical-numerical comprehensive method for realizing the optimization is introduced. The method mentioned above consists of two parts, the analytical part calculates the field of the shims, which corrects the fringing magnetic field by using uniform magnetizing method; the numerical part fulfils the whole calculation of the field distribution by solving the equation of magnetic vector potential A within the region covered by arbitrary triangular meshes with the aid of finite difference method and successive over relaxation method. On the basis of the method, the optimization of the fringing magnetic field for a large-scale electromagnetic isotope separator is finished

High-speed X-ray phase tomography based on the Fourier-transform method has been demonstrated with an X-ray Talbot interferometer using white synchrotron radiation. We report the experimental results of high-speed X-ray phase tomography with fringe-scanning method instead of Fourier-transform method to improve spatial resolution without a considerable increase of scan time. To apply fringe-scanning method to high speed tomography, we tested a scan that is a synchronous combination of one-way continuous movements of the sample rotation and the grating displacement. When this scanning method was combined with X-ray phase tomography, we were able to obtain a scan time of 5 s. A comparison of the image quality derived with the conventional approach and with the proposed approach using the fringe-scanning method showed that the latter had better spatial resolution.

A feedback stabilization technique is described for a fractional fringe interferometer measuring plasma electron densities. Using this technique, a CO 2 laser Michelson interferometer with a pyroelectric detector exhibited a sensitivity of 3.4 x 10 -4 fringe on a 1-ms time scale and, due to acoustic pickup, 1.8 x 10 -2 fringe on a 10-ms time scale. The rise time is 45 μs. Stabilization against slow drifts in mirror distances is achieved by an electromechanically translated mirror driven by a servo system having a 0.2-s response time. A mechanical chopper in one of the two beam paths generates the signal which drives the servo system

Thehousing projects, that have turned into concept projects promoted as acommodity since last decade in Turkey. These projects, are marketed withdiscourses such as “the long-awaited life”, “ideal home” and are constructed onthe urban fringes. In this study, the housing projects that developed inTrabzon in recent years have been examined in this context. Marketing discourseand physical environmental characteristics of the projects have been analyzed.Thus, the study finds out to what extent the...

A dynamic feedback pricing model is developed for a leader/fringe supply market of exhaustible resources. The discrete game optimization model includes marginal costs which may be quadratic functions of cumulative production, a linear demand curve and variable length periods. The multiperiod formulation is based on the nesting of later periods' Kuhn-Tucker conditions into earlier periods' optimizations. This procedure leads to dynamically consistent solutions where the leader's strategy is credible as he has no incentive to alter his original plan at some later stage. A static leader-fringe model may yield multiple local optima. This can result in the leader forcing the fringe to produce at their capacity constraint, which would otherwise be non-binding if it is greater than the fringe's unconstrained optimal production rate. Conditions are developed where the optimal solution occurs at a corner where constraints meet, of which limit pricing is a special case. The 2-period leader/fringe feedback model is compared to the computationally simpler open-loop model. Under certain conditions, the open-loop model yields the same result as the feedback model. A multiperiod feedback model of the world oil market with OPEC as price-leader and the remaining world oil suppliers comprising the fringe is compared with the open-loop solution. The optimal profits and prices are very similar, but large differences in production rates may occur. The exhaustion date predicted by the open-loop model may also differ from the feedback outcome. Some numerical tests result in non-contiguous production periods for a player or limit pricing phases. 85 refs., 60 figs., 30 tabs

2 mm thick silicon wafers, implanted with 4.8 MeV α-particles are studied by means of transmission section topography and additionally by Lang and double-crystal methods. It was found that all three methods produced a negligible contrast in the symmetric transmission reflection apart from some fragments of the implanted area's boundaries. The interference fringes were observed in the case of asymmetric reflections. The asymmetric section topographs revealed distinct interference fringes, which cannot be explained in terms of simple bicrystal models. In particular, the curvature of these fringes may be interpreted as being due to the change in the implanted ion dose along the beam intersecting the crystal. Some features of the fringepattern were reproduced by numerical integration of Takagi-Taupin equations. (author)

In Denmark, as in most other European countries, there is a net migration from the less urbanized to the more urbanized parts of the country. This article summarizes the results of a Danish study on the extent and composition of migration fl ows; and on factors and conditions that have a decisive...... infl uence on migration to fringe areas. The study shows that a considerable share of movers to the fringe areas in Denmark can be characterised as income-transfer mover. They are people without employment moving to get lower housing costs. But there are also groups of people moving to employment...

During the last 25 years population in fringe areas in Denmark has declined. The main reason has been that young people leave these areas and seldom come back. In this study is examined the connection between young people’s outmigration, their choice of education and the location of educational...... institutions. It is shown that geographical centralization of education since 1990 and the tendency for more young people to choose higher education has resulted in an increase in the outmigration of young people from fringe areas...

The discovery of the widespread occurrence of the remains of the reef coral Acropora palmata within the fabric of the fringing reefs on the west coast of Barbados requires a new interpretation of their Holocene development. Radiocarbon dating of the A. palmata framework suggests that reef construction by this species began as early as 2,300 years B.P. A. palmata probably flourished in Barbados into the present century but has now declined. The present fringing reefs are characterized by a core and base of A. palmata upon which subsequent colonization took place, especially by Montastrea annularis, Porites porites and coralline algae.

In the measurement system of interference fringe, the nonorthogonality error is a main error source that influences the precision and accuracy of the measurement system. The detection and elimination of the error has been an important target. A novel method that only uses the cross-zero detection and the counting is proposed to detect and eliminate the nonorthogonality error in real time. This method can be simply realized by means of the digital logic device, because it does not invoke trigonometric functions and inverse trigonometric functions. And it can be widely used in the bidirectional subdivision systems of a Moire fringe and other optical instruments.

Based on Santa Coloma as a main case,analyzing how can be update there in this crisis situation to do suitable interventions to achieve a great effect. After analyzing the Santa Coloma area,I pay attention to its urban marginality.It has the territorial marginality,the marginality of the relationship with Barcelona,the marginality of the people and life style and so on. Urban fringe is corresponding the city center, the city of mainstream.The socalled "fringe" can be underst...

Wake Vortex Turbulence is the turbulence generated by an aircraft in flight. This turbulence is created by vortices at the tips of the wing that may decay slowly and persist for several minutes after creation. These vortices and turbulence are hazardous to other aircraft in the vicinity. The strength, formation and lifetime of the turbulence and vortices are effected by many things including the weather. Here we present the final results of the pilot project to investigation of low level wind fields generated by the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and an analysis of historical data. The findings from the historical data and the data simulations were used as inputs for the computational fluid dynamics model (OpenFoam) to show that the vortices could be simulated using OpenFoam. Presented here are the updated results from a research grant, ``A Pilot Project to Investigate Wake Vortex Patterns and Weather Patterns at the Atlantic City Airport by the Stockton University and the FAA''.

PATTERNS across Wyoming is a science and art project that promotes new and innovative approaches to STEM education and outreach, helping to re-contextualize how educators think about creative knowledge, and how to reach diverse audiences through informal education. The convergence of art, science and STEM outreach efforts is vital to increasing the presence of art in geosciences, developing multidisciplinary student research opportunities, expanding creative STEM thinking, and generating creative approaches of visualizing scientific data. A major goal of this project is to train art students to think critically about the value of scientific and artistic inquiry. PATTERNS across Wyoming makes science tangible to Wyoming citizens through K-14 art classrooms, and promotes novel maker-based art explorations centered around Wyoming's geosciences. The first PATTERNS across Wyoming scientific learning module (SIM) is a fish-tank sized flume that recreates natural patterns in sand as a result of fluid flow and sediment transport. It will help promotes the understanding of river systems found across Wyoming (e.g. Green, Yellowstone, Snake). This SIM, and the student artwork inspired by it, will help to visualize environmental-water changes in the central Rocky Mountains and will provide the essential inspiration and tools for Wyoming art students to design biological-driven creative explorations. Each art class will receive different fluvial system conditions, allowing for greater understanding of river system interactions. Artwork will return to the University of Wyoming for a STE{A}M Exhibition inspired by Wyoming's varying fluvial systems. It is our hope that new generations of science and art critical thinkers will not only explore questions of `why' and `how' scientific phenomena occur, but also `how' to better predict, conserve and study invaluable artifacts, and visualize conditions which allow for better control of scientific outcomes and public understanding.

An actively stabilized interferometer with a constant optical path difference is a key element in long-term astronomical observation, and resolving interference fringe ambiguities is important to produce high-precision results for the long term. We report a simple and reliable method of resolving fringe ambiguities of a wide-field Michelson interferometer by measuring the interference visibility of a noncollimated single-frequency laser beam. Theoretical analysis shows that the interference visibility is sensitive to a subfringe phase shift, and a wide range of beam arrangements is suitable for real implementation. In an experimental demonstration, a Michelson interferometer has an optical path difference of 7 mm and a converging monitoring beam has a numerical aperture of 0.045 with an incidental angle of 17 degrees. The resolution of visibility measurements corresponds to approximately 1/16 fringe in the interferometer phase shift. The fringe ambiguity-free region is extended over a range of approximately 100 fringes.

Full Text Available Background: We assessed the still unclear effect of the overall alcohol-drinking pattern, beyond the amount of alcohol consumed, on the incidence of cardiovascular clinical disease (CVD. Methods: We followed 14,651 participants during up to 14 years. We built a score assessing simultaneously seven dimensions of alcohol consumption to capture the conformity to a traditional Mediterranean alcohol-drinking pattern (MADP. It positively scored moderate alcohol intake, alcohol intake spread out over the week, low spirit consumption, preference for wine, red wine consumption, wine consumed during meals and avoidance of binge drinking. Results: During 142,177 person-years of follow-up, 127 incident cases of CVD (myocardial infarction, stroke or cardiovascular mortality were identified. Compared with the category of better conformity with the MADP, the low-adherence group exhibited a non-significantly higher risk (HR of total CVD ((95% CI = 1.55 (0.58–4.16. This direct association with a departure from the traditional MADP was even stronger for cardiovascular mortality (HR (95% CI = 3.35 (0.77–14.5. Nevertheless, all these associations were statistically non-significant. Conclusion: Better conformity with the MADP seemed to be associated with lower cardiovascular risk in most point estimates; however, no significant results were found and more powered studies are needed to clarify the role of the MADP on CVD.

We have confirmed that a mathematical expression in our previous Letter [Chen and Quan, Opt. Lett.30, 2101 (2005)] should be modified. The modification, however, does not affect the validity of the method reported, the results obtained and the subsequent conclusions made.

Large scale components exist widely in advance manufacturing industry,3D profilometry plays a pivotal role for the quality control. This paper proposes a flexible, robust large-scale 3D scanning system by integrating a robot with a binocular structured light scanner and a laser tracker. The measurement principle and system construction of the integrated system are introduced. And a mathematical model is established for the global data fusion. Subsequently, a flexible and robust method and mechanism is introduced for the establishment of the end coordination system. Based on this method, a virtual robot noumenon is constructed for hand-eye calibration. And then the transformation matrix between end coordination system and world coordination system is solved. Validation experiment is implemented for verifying the proposed algorithms. Firstly, hand-eye transformation matrix is solved. Then a car body rear is measured for 16 times for the global data fusion algorithm verification. And the 3D shape of the rear is reconstructed successfully.

... pertinent to the employment of particular classes of service employees on the varied kinds of service... of prevailing wage rates and prevailing fringe benefits in all situations under the Act. The locality... area. For example, a survey by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Baltimore, Maryland Standard...

We have observed a nice example of chromatic dispersion due to refraction in water, in the form of color fringes bordering the black stripes that exist at the bottom of a swimming pool. Here we give a qualitative description of the phenomenon, explaining the role of the black stripes and the dispersive index of refraction of water.

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Payment of fringe benefits to temporary and part-time... to temporary and part-time employees. (a) As set forth in § 4.165(a)(2), the Act makes no distinction, with respect to its compensation provisions, between temporary, part-time, and full-time employees...

... exact cash amounts. In these cases, the hourly cash equivalent of the cost of these items shall be... the contractor's contributions, costs, or payment of cash equivalents for fringe benefits. Overtime... cash to the laborer or mechanic, or deducted from payments under the conditions set forth in 29 CFR 3.5...

We present a neural network algorithm for spectroscopic retrievals of concentrations of trace gases. Using synthetic data we demonstrate that a neural network is well suited for filtering etalon fringes and provides superior performance to conventional least squares minimization techniques. This novel method can improve the accuracy of atmospheric retrievals and minimize biases.

People benefit from cropland through food production and a variety of environmental and recreational benefits. However, the provision of the different functions offered by agricultural landscape deteriorates as a consequence of ongoing urban development, especially in urban fringe. To help define

Detailed site characterization data from the former electroplating shop at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Support Center, Elizabeth City, North Carolina suggested that the elevated Cr(VI) in the capillary fringe area had contaminated the ground water at the site. Most of the mobile Cr(...

The method of photoelasticity allows one to obtain principal stress differences and principal stress directions in a photoelastic model. In the classical approach, the photoelastic parameters are measured manually point by point. The previous methods require much time and skill in the identification and measurement of photoelastic data. Fringe phase shifting method has been recently developed and widely used to measure and analyze fringe data in photo-mechanics. This paper presents the test results of photoelastic fringe phase shifting technique for the stress analysis of a circular disk under compression and an edge-cracked plate subjected to tensile load. The technique used here requires four phase stepped photoelastic images obtained from a circular polariscope by rotating the analyzer at 0 .deg. ,45 .deg. ,90 .deg. ,and 135 .deg. . Experimental results are compared with those or FEM. Good agreement between the results can be observed. However, some error may be included if the technique is used to general direction which is not parallel to isoclinic fringe

The propagation of a high-power flat-topped Gaussian beam, which is modulated by three parallel wirelike scatterers, passing through a downstream Kerr medium slab and free spaces is investigated. A new phenomenon is found that a kind of intense fringe with intensity several times that of the incident beam can be formed in a plane downstream the Kerr medium. This kind of intense fringe is another result in the propagation process of nonlinear imaging and it locates scores of centimeters downstream the predicted hot image plane. Moreover, the intensity of this fringe can achieve the magnitude of that of hot image in corresponding single-scatterer case, and this phenomenon can arise only under certain conditions. As for the corresponding hot images, they are also formed but largely suppressed. The cause of the formation of such an intense fringe is analyzed and found related to interference in the free space downstream the Kerr medium. Moreover, the ways it is influenced by some important factors such as the wavelength of incident beam and the properties of scatterers and Kerr medium are discussed, and some important properties and relations are revealed.

Concerns on urban environmental quality, increasing knowledge on impacts of climate change and pursuit for sustainable development have increased the need for past, current and future knowledge on the transformation of remnant urban fringe green ecosystems. Using land-cover change modeler and a Markov chain ...

The Notch signaling pathway consists of multiple types of receptors and ligands, whose interactions can be tuned by Fringe glycosyltransferases. A major challenge is to determine how these components control the specificity and directionality of Notch signaling in developmental contexts. Here, we analyzed same-cell (cis) Notch-ligand interactions for Notch1, Dll1, and Jag1, and their dependence on Fringe protein expression in mammalian cells. We found that Dll1 and Jag1 can cis-inhibit Notch1, and Fringe proteins modulate these interactions in a way that parallels their effects on trans interactions. Fringe similarly modulated Notch-ligand cis interactions during Drosophila development. Based on these and previously identified interactions, we show how the design of the Notch signaling pathway leads to a restricted repertoire of signaling states that promote heterotypic signaling between distinct cell types, providing insight into the design principles of the Notch signaling system, and the specific developmental process of Drosophila dorsal-ventral boundary formation.

We study the effects of fringing electric fields on the behavior of negative-capacitance (NC) field-effect transistors (FETs) with a silicon-on-insulator body and a gate stack consisting of an oxide film, an internal metal film, a ferroelectric film, and a gate electrode using our own device simulator that can properly handle the complicated relationship between the polarization and the electric field in ferroelectric materials. The behaviors of such NC FETs and the corresponding metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) FETs are simulated and compared with each other to evaluate the effects of the NC of the ferroelectric film. Then, the fringing field effects are evaluated by comparing the NC effects in NC FETs with and without gate spacers. The fringing field between the gate stack, especially the internal metal film, and the source/drain region induces more charges at the interface of the film with the ferroelectric film. Accordingly, the function of the NC to modulate the gate voltage and the resulting function to improve the subthreshold swing are enhanced. We also investigate the relationships of these fringing field effects to the drain voltage and four design parameters of NC FETs, i.e., gate length, gate spacer permittivity, internal metal film thickness, and oxide film thickness.

Western prairie fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara Sheviak and Bowles), listed in 1989 as federally threatened, has been extirpated from 75% of historic sites throughout its range. We describe (a) threats to the orchid; (b) seed germination on synthetic medium; and (c) in vitro germination with mycorrhizal fungi. Destruction of prairies for...

We present a neural network algorithm for spectroscopic retrievals of concentrations of trace gases. Using synthetic data we demonstrate that a neural network is well suited for filtering etalon fringes and provides superior performance to conventional least squares minimization techniques. This novel method can improve the accuracy of atmospheric retrievals and minimize biases.

Firms offer compensation not only through wages, but also offer transport-related fringe benefits such as transport benefits (company cars, travel, and parking benefits) and relocation benefits to job applicants. We argue that these benefits are not randomly offered to employees, but depend on the

This fringe benefit plan saves money for both employers and employees, provides a better fit for employees' actual benefit needs, and allows employees to choose options from a menu of benefits. One option is a flexible spending plan. Employees place a portion of their before-tax income into a special account from which allowable expenses are paid…

The Notch family of proteins plays a vital role in determining cell fates, such as proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. It has been shown that Notch1 and its ligands, Dll1 and Jag1, are overexpressed in many glioma cell lines and primary human gliomas. The roles of Notch1 in some cancers have been firmly established, and recent data implicate that it plays important roles in glioma cell fate decisions. This paper focuses on devising a specific theoretical framework that incorporates Dll1, Jag1, and Fringe in Notch1 signaling pathway to explore their functional roles of these proteins in glioma cells in the tumorigenesis and progression of human gliomas, and to study how glioma cell fate decisions are modulated by both trans-activation and cis-inhibition. This paper presents a computational model for Notch1 signaling pathway in glioma cells. Based on the bifurcation analysis of the model, we show that how the glioma cell fate decisions are modulated by both trans-activation and cis-inhibition mediated by the Fringe protein, providing insight into the design and control principles of the Notch signaling system and the gliomas. This paper presents a computational model for Notch1 signaling pathway in glioma cells based on intertwined dynamics with cis-inhibition and trans-activation involving the proteins Notch1, Dll1, Jag1, and Fringe. The results show that how the glioma cell fate transitions are performed by the Notch1 signaling. Transition from grade III ∼ IV with significantly high Notch1 to grade I ∼ II with high Notch1, and then to normal cells by repressing the Fringe levels or decreasing the strength of enhancement induced by Fringe.

The new VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer) 1 instrument GRAVITY5, 22, 23 is equipped with a fringe tracker16 able to stabilize the K-band fringes on six baselines at the same time. It has been designed to achieve a performance for average seeing conditions of a residual OPD (Optical Path Difference) lower than 300 nm with objects brighter than K = 10. The control loop implementing the tracking is composed of a four stage real time computer system compromising: a sensor where the detector pixels are read in and the OPD and GD (Group Delay) are calculated; a controller receiving the computed sensor quantities and producing commands for the piezo actuators; a concentrator which combines both the OPD commands with the real time tip/tilt corrections offloading them to the piezo actuator; and finally a Kalman15 parameter estimator. This last stage is used to monitor current measurements over a window of few seconds and estimate new values for the main Kalman15 control loop parameters. The hardware and software implementation of this design runs asynchronously and communicates the four computers for data transfer via the Reflective Memory Network3. With the purpose of improving the performance of the GRAVITY5, 23 fringe tracking16, 22 control loop, a deviation from the standard asynchronous communication mechanism has been proposed and implemented. This new scheme operates the four independent real time computers involved in the tracking loop synchronously using the Reflective Memory Interrupts2 as the coordination signal. This synchronous mechanism had the effect of reducing the total pure delay of the loop from 3.5 [ms] to 2.0 [ms] which then translates on a better stabilization of the fringes as the bandwidth of the system is substantially improved. This paper will explain in detail the real time architecture of the fringe tracker in both is synchronous and synchronous implementation. The achieved improvements on reducing the delay via this mechanism will be

Full Text Available Presently, effective regulations employed in the Russian Federation recommend the use of the methods developed by E.G. Kachuchin, G.S. Zolotarev, I.A. Pecherkin, etc. for the projection of patterns of reorganization of coastlines of water reservoirs. One of these methods, developed by E.G. Kachugin, belongs to the group of power methods based on the hypothesis that the amplitudes of destruction of the coast are proportionate to the total wave energy alongside the coastline. The Kachugin method was reworked into a computer-based two-dimensional engineering model of reorganization of the abrasion shore. The model generates alternative projections. It simulates the processes of washout and accumulation of soil in the coastal area and solves the problem of predicting the potential profile of the shore within a pre-set time period or until the abrasion is smoothed away in the course of formation of coastal shallows. The model testing has proven its efficiency in solving the engineering problems of projecting the line of reservoir abrasion shores with a high degree of reliability.

An actin fringe structure in the subapex plays an important role in pollen tube tip growth. However, the precise mechanism by which the actin fringe is generated and maintained remains largely unknown. Here, we cloned a 2606-bp full-length cDNA encoding a deduced 77-kD fimbrin-like protein from lily (Lilium longiflorum), named FIMBRIN1 (FIM1). Ll-FIM1 was preferentially expressed in pollen and concentrated at actin fringe in the subapical region, as well as in longitudinal actin-filament bundles in the shank of pollen tubes. Microinjection of Ll-FIM1 antibody into lily pollen tubes inhibited tip growth and disrupted the actin fringe. Furthermore, we verified the function of Ll-FIM1 in the fim5 mutant of its closest relative, Arabidopsis thaliana. Pollen tubes of fim5 mutants grew with a larger diameter in early stages but could recover into normal forms in later stages, despite significantly slower growth rates. The actin fringe of the fim5 mutants, however, was impaired during both early and late stages. Impressively, stable expression of fim5pro:GFP:Ll-FIM1 rescued the actin fringe and the growth rate of Arabidopsis fim5 pollen tubes. In vitro biochemical analysis showed that Ll-FIM1 could bundle actin filaments. Thus, our study has identified a fimbrin that may stabilize the actin fringe by cross-linking actin filaments into bundles, which is important for proper tip growth of lily pollen tubes. PMID:23150633

The ability of Notch signaling to regulate T helper cell development and differentiation has been widely accepted. Fringe, O-fucose-β1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases modulate Notch receptor expression and promote the Notch signaling pathway through receptor-ligand binding. In this study, we assayed the expression levels of three Fringe homologs in naive CD4+T cells in asthmatic rats. We found that Radical Fringe (Rfng) was highly expressed, whereas both Lunatic Fringe (Lfng) and Manic Fringe (Mfng) were expressed at low levels. Down-regulation of Rfng using siRNA, and overexpression of Lfng or Mfng enhanced Th1 subset lineages and diminished Th2 subset lineages. Notch signaling was more activated in asthmatic naïve CD4+T cells than in control cells, and Lfng, but not Mfng or Rfng, partly inhibited Notch signaling in asthmatic naïve CD4+T lymphocytes. Lfng overexpression resulted in significantly decreased Th2 cytokine production in asthma, which was the same effect as the GSI (γ-secretase inhibitor) treatment alone, but had an increased effect on Th1 cytokines than GSI treatment. Collectively, these data identify the essential role of Fringe modulating naïve CD4+T cells differentiation through Notch signaling. Lfng regulated Th2 cells differentiation via a Notch-dependent manner and Th1 cells differentiation via a Notch-independent manner. Fringe could be a therapeutic strategy for the management and prevention of allergic asthma. PMID:23071776

The ability of Notch signaling to regulate T helper cell development and differentiation has been widely accepted. Fringe, O-fucose-β1,3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferases modulate Notch receptor expression and promote the Notch signaling pathway through receptor-ligand binding. In this study, we assayed the expression levels of three Fringe homologs in naive CD4(+)T cells in asthmatic rats. We found that Radical Fringe (Rfng) was highly expressed, whereas both Lunatic Fringe (Lfng) and Manic Fringe (Mfng) were expressed at low levels. Down-regulation of Rfng using siRNA, and overexpression of Lfng or Mfng enhanced Th1 subset lineages and diminished Th2 subset lineages. Notch signaling was more activated in asthmatic naïve CD4(+)T cells than in control cells, and Lfng, but not Mfng or Rfng, partly inhibited Notch signaling in asthmatic naïve CD4(+)T lymphocytes. Lfng overexpression resulted in significantly decreased Th2 cytokine production in asthma, which was the same effect as the GSI (γ-secretase inhibitor) treatment alone, but had an increased effect on Th1 cytokines than GSI treatment. Collectively, these data identify the essential role of Fringe modulating naïve CD4(+)T cells differentiation through Notch signaling. Lfng regulated Th2 cells differentiation via a Notch-dependent manner and Th1 cells differentiation via a Notch-independent manner. Fringe could be a therapeutic strategy for the management and prevention of allergic asthma.

Spatiotemporal (ST) analytics applied to major spatio-temporal data sources from major vendors such as USGS, NOAA, World Bank and World Health Organization have tremendous value in shedding light on the evolution of physical, cultural, and geopolitical landscapes on a local and global level. Especially powerful is the integration of these physical and cultural datasets across multiple and disparate formats, facilitating new interdisciplinary analytics and insights. Realizing this potential first requires an ST data model that addresses challenges in properly merging data from multiple authors, with evolving ontological perspectives, semantical differences, changing attributes, and content that is textual, numeric, categorical, and hierarchical. Equally challenging is the development of analytical and visualization approaches that provide a serious exploration of this integrated data while remaining accessible to practitioners with varied backgrounds. The WSTAMP project at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory has yielded two major results in addressing these challenges: 1) development of the WSTAMP database, a significant advance in ST data modeling that integrates 16000+ attributes covering 200+ countries for over 50 years from over 30 major sources and 2) a novel online ST exploratory and analysis tool providing an array of modern statistical and visualization techniques for analyzing these data temporally, spatially, and spatiotemporally under a standard analytic workflow. We report on these advances, provide an illustrative case study, and inform how others may freely access the tool.

The southern California region, although highly urbanized and densely populated, is also characterized by steep mountain ranges with extensive forests and diverse ecosystems. Growing population pressure in the region has forced continuing development at the urban fringe. The large mountain systems situated on the windward side of the Los Angeles basin experience high atmospheric nitrogen deposition rates from various urban pollutants. Arroyo Seco, a watershed located on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles basin, is no exception to this trend. The present study uses hydrologic and geochemical data to assess current watershed dynamics and ecosystem responses to the impacts of regional urbanization. The Arroyo Seco stream runs through a deeply incised canyon originating in the San Gabriel Mountains and draining into the Los Angeles River. The current riparian habitat, which comprises only 15 percent of the total land cover within the watershed, contains over 705 species of plants and animals. We focused our studies on the upper reaches of the basin (~18 square miles), which remains undeveloped and consists primarily of chaparral and evergreen forests. This portion of the watershed has an average watershed slope of approximately 6 percent and relatively porous soils. However, estimated runoff ratio from the existing USGS gage and local precipitation gages indicates fairly high runoff (discharge/precipitation ratio of 0.29). Weekly stream samples have been collected over a several year period and analyzed for standard geochemical constituents and stable isotopes to assess deposition impacts on ecosystem function and overall watershed behavior. Stable isotopes of water measured in the weekly Arroyo Seco stream samples deviate from the global meteoric water line (GMWL), particularly during summer months. High evaporative rates in the summer may be responsible for the distinct summer pattern and overall deviation from the GMWL of stream isotope values. An

Dietary pattern (DP) analysis allows examination of the combined effects of nutrients and foods on the markers of CVD. Very few studies have examined these relationships during adolescence or young adulthood. Traditional CVD risk biomarkers were analysed in 12-15-year-olds (n 487; Young Hearts (YH)1) and again in the same individuals at 20-25 years of age (n 487; YH3). Based on 7 d diet histories, in the present study, DP analysis was performed using a posteriori principal component analysis for the YH3 cohort and the a priori Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) was calculated for both YH1 and YH3 cohorts. In the a posteriori DP analysis, YH3 participants adhering most closely to the 'healthy' DP were found to have lower pulse wave velocity (PWV) and homocysteine concentrations, the 'sweet tooth' DP were found to have increased LDL concentrations, and decreased HDL concentrations, [corrected] the 'drinker/social' DP were found to have lower LDL and homocysteine concentrations, but exhibited a trend towards a higher TAG concentration, and finally the 'Western' DP were found to have elevated homocysteine and HDL concentrations. In the a priori dietary score analysis, YH3 participants adhering most closely to the Mediterranean diet were found to exhibit a trend towards a lower PWV. MDS did not track between YH1 and YH3, and nor was there a longitudinal relationship between the change in the MDS and the change in CVD risk biomarkers. In conclusion, cross-sectional analysis revealed that some associations between DP and CVD risk biomarkers were already evident in the young adult population, namely the association between the healthy DP (and the MDS) and PWV; however, no longitudinal associations were observed between these relatively short time periods.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Smoking is an important health threat in Turkey. This study aimed to determine the frequency of and main factors associated with smoking in persons of 15 years and over, and the frequency of passive smoking in homes in the South-east Anatolian Project (SEAP Region in Turkey. Methods A cross sectional design was employed. The sample waschosen by the State Institute of Statistics using a stratified cluster probability sampling method. 1126 houses representing the SEAP Region were visited. Questionnaires about tobacco smoking and related factors were applied to 2166 women and 1906 men (of 15 years old and above in their homes. Face-to-face interview methods were employed. Participants were classified as current, ex, and non-smokers. The presence of a regular daily smoker in a house was used as an indication of passive smoking. The chi-square andlogistic regressionanalysis methods were used for the statistical analysis. Results The prevalence of smoking, in those of 15 years and over, was 11.8% in women and 49.7% in men. The prevalence of current smokers was higher in urban (34.5 % than in rural (22.8 % regions. The mean of total cigarette consumption was 6.5 packs/year in women and 17.9 packs/year in men. There was at least one current smoker in 70.1% of the houses. Conclusion Smoking is a serious problem in the South-eastern Anatolian Region. Male gender, middle age, a high level of education and urban residency were most strongly associated with smoking.

Restoration of three-dimensional shell habitats in coastal Louisiana presents a valuable and potentially self-sustaining approach to providing shoreline protection and critical nekton habitat and may contribute to water quality maintenance. The use of what has been called “living shorelines” is particularly promising because in addition to the hypothesized shoreline protection services, it is predicted that, if built and located in viable sites, these living shorelines may ultimately contribute to water quality maintenance through filtration of bivalves and may enhance nekton habitat. This approach, however, has not been tested extensively in different shallow water estuarine settings; understanding under what conditions a living shoreline must have to support a sustainable oyster population, and where these reefs may provide valuable shoreline protection, is key to ensuring that this approach provides an effective tool for coastal restoration. This project gathered preliminary data on the sustainability and shoreline stabilization of three large bioengineered fringing reefs located in Grand Isle, Lake Eloi, and Lake Fortuna, Louisiana. We collected preconstruction and postconstruction physiochemical and biological data by using a before-after-control-impact approach to evaluate the effectiveness of these living shoreline structures on reducing marsh erosion, enabling reef sustainability, and providing other ecosystem benefits. Although this project was originally designed to compare reef performance and impacts across three different locations over 2 years, delays in construction because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in reefs being built from 12 to 18 months later than anticipated. As a result, monitoring postconstruction was severely limited. One reef, Grand Isle, was completed in March 2011 and monitored up to 18 months postcreation, whereas Lake Eloi and Lake Fortuna reefs were not completed until January 2012, and only 8 months of

Full Text Available There is expedient evidence showing that differences in adolescent alcohol consumption and other risk-behaviour depend on both family structure and family member drunkenness exposure. Data were obtained among adolescents (N = 12,115, mean age 14.9 ± 0.89 in Austria, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain within the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme funded project, ‘Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe (SEYLE’. The current study reveals how adolescents’ alcohol consumption patterns are related to their family structure and having seen their family member drunk. The results revealed statistically significant differences in adolescent alcohol consumption depending on whether the adolescent lives in a family with both birth parents, in a single-parent family or in a family with one birth parent and one step-parent. The study also revealed that the abstaining from alcohol percentage among adolescents was greater in families with both birth parents compared to other family types. The study also showed that the more often adolescents see their family member drunk the more they drink themselves. There is no difference in adolescent drinking patterns whether they see their family member drunk once a month or once a week. This study gives an insight on which subgroups of adolescents are at heightened risk of alcohol abuse and that decrease of family member drunkenness may have positive effects on the drinking habits of their children.

Testing superconducting solenoid with no iron flux return can be problematic for a magnet test facility due to the large magnetic fringe fields generated. These large external fields can interfere with the operation of equipment while precautions must be taken for personnel supporting the test. The magnetic forces between the solenoid under test and the external infrastructure must also be taken under consideration. A new test facility has been designed and built at Fermilab specifically for testing superconducting magnets with large external fringe fields. This paper discusses the test stand design, capabilities, and details of the instrumentation and controls with data from the first solenoid tested in this facility: the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) coupling coil.

The crevice corrosion occurrence probability of stainless steel (SS) AISI 316 was increased under ennoblement condition due to chemically added H{sub 2}O{sub 2} into seawater. The H{sub 2}O{sub 2} was used to simulate the important factor causing ennoblement in natural marine biofilm. Morphology of the crevice corrosion was observed using an incident-light source microscopy. Some interesting ''rainbow'' fringes were observed around micro-crevices. The mechanism was discussed from the ions diffusion and potential distribution during the crevice formation. This result shows that under ennoblement condition the colored fringe is a distinct characteristic of the morphology of localized corrosion for stainless steel. (Abstract Copyright [2009], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

We propose a fringe-shifting holographic method with an appropriate image wave recovery algorithm leading to exact solution of holographic equations. With this new method the complex object image wave recovered from holograms appears to have much less traditional artifacts caused by the autocorrelation band present practically in all Fourier transformed holograms. The new analytical solutions make possible a double-resolution electron holography free from autocorrelation band artifacts and thus push the limits for phase resolution. The new image wave recovery algorithm uses a popular Fourier solution of the side band-pass filter technique, while the fringe-shifting holographic method is simple to implement in practice. Published by Elsevier B.V.

In CSNS accelerator construction, the field measurement of all RCS magnets have been finished and the magnets have been installed in the tunnel before the end of 2015. The electromagnetic quadrupoles have a large aperture and the core-to-core distance between magnets is rather short in some places. The corrector magnet or the sextupole magnet is closer to one of the quadrupole magnets which caused certain interference. The interference caused by magnetic fringe field has been appeared and it becomes a significant issue in beam dynamics for beam loss control in this high-intensity proton accelerator. We have performed 3D computing simulations to study integral field distributions between the quadrupole and the corrector magnets, and the sextupole and the other quadrupole magnets. The effect of the magnetic fringe field and the interference has been investigated with different distances of the neighbor magnets. The simulation and the field measurement results will be introduced in this paper.

Facial recognitions of people can be used for the identification of individuals, or can serve as verification e.g. for access controls. The process requires, that the facial data is captured and then compared with stored reference data. In this context, far better recognition performances can be expected from 3-dimensional facial recognition systems than can be from the 2-dimensional systems which are currently used. The accuracy with which the facial profile can be captured, depends on the speed off the measuring data acquisition i.e. the scanning speed and on the measuring accuracy of the measuring device i.e. the 3D scanner.